jurisdiction of seamen on board of ships belonging to any citizen of the state, and to laws relative to quarantine, pilotage, and to wrecks of the seas. * An unavoidable incident to the power of regulating foreign commerce, is that of punishing offences committed on the high seas. Piracy may be said to be an offence against all nations, and punishable by all; and it is a received opinion that every nation has a right to attack and exterminate the perpetrators of so heinous a crime. This right, like its kindred rights, ought, as is provided in our constitution, to be vested in the national government. III. When a government is made up of several confederated states, the constitution must embrace another class of stipu lations; providing for the maintenance of harmony and proper intercourse among those states; laying a proper restraint upon the general government and the state governments, so as to hinder any mutual interference of their respective authorities; and stating what objects of general utility shall be confided to the national powers. As provisions of this sort must be regulated by circumstances of time and place, there can be no specific rules given for them. Even in the formation of the constitution of the United States, there was a diversity of opinion among great and good men. And as those different opinions have continually led to difference of construction and interpretation, relative to national and state rights; it would be unwise for the author, with his limited knowledge and experience, to undertake an elucidation of any point which involves these original principles of opposition. It may be well to state, however, that the constitution of the United States contains the following stipulations. 1. For the maintenance of harmony and proper intercourse among the states. "To regulate commerce among the several states, and with the Indian tribes : 350 What power must necessarily attend this control? 351 What stipulations are necessary for a republic made up of confederated states? 351 How must these provisions be regulated? 352 What articles in our constitution relate to the preservation of harmony among the states? Duer, § 552. "To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States: "To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures: "To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States: "To establish post offices and post roads :* "Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof:† "The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states: "A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime: "No person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."‡ 2. Restrictions of the powers of the national and of the state governments. There is reserved "to the states respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by congress :§ "The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it: "No bill of attainder or ex-post facto law shall be passed: "No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken: 353 What restrictions of powers are stipulated in the constitution? * Art. i. sect. 8. clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Art. iv. sect. 2. † Art. iv. sect. 1. Art. i. sect. 8. clause 16. "No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state: "No preference shall be given by any regulations of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another."* "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex-post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility: "No state shall, without the consent of the congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the congress. No state shall, without the consent of the congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay."+ "The constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. "The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." 66 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment *Sect. ix. clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. † Art. i. sect. 10. Art. vi. clauses 2 and 3. of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.' "The congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted." "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."+ "No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner prescribed by law."§ "The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."|| Under this head may be classed the article on amendments. "The congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the congress; provided that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate.' 3. Objects of general utility. "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries :"¶ "To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of conpress, become the seat of the government of the United 354 What is the article on amendments? 355 What articles provide for objects of general utility? * Amend. art. 1. Amend. art. iii. † Art. iii. sect. iii. clause 3. Amend. art. ii. Art. 1. sect. 8. clause 8 States; and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings: And, "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution all the powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof."* New states may be admitted by the congress into this union but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the congress. "The congress shall have power to dispose of and make needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States."t "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) against domestic violence."‡ CHAP. XI.-MUNICIPAL LAW. The governmental powers that we have heretofore treated of, relate to national objects; or such objects as embrace the general concerns of the nation. But besides these, there is a class of laws which more preeminently concern the people; laws whose object is to secure to every individual of the community, all his rights of person and of property. These laws are called civil or municipal laws; civil, because they relate to a civis, a member or citizen of any particular community; municipal, because they belong to a municipium, a community dependant on another, but possess 356 Of what kind are the governmental powers that we have already treated of? 357 What other class of laws is there? Art. i. sect. viii. clauses 17 and 18. +Art. iv. sect. 3. Are they of importance? Why municipal laws? Art. iv. sect. 4. |