the public safety may require it ;" and "no bill of attainder, or ex post facto law," can be passed. A bill of attainder is a special legis- Bills of lative act by which a person may be attainder condemned to death, or to outlawry and banishment, without the opportunity of defending himself which he would have in a court of law. "No evidence is necessarily adduced to support it," and in former times, especially in the reign of Henry VIII., it was a formidable engine for perpetrating judicial murders. Bills of attainder long ago ceased to be employed in England, and the process was abolished by statute in 1870. No title of nobility can be granted by the United States, and no federal officer can accept a present, office, or title from a foreign state without the consent of Congress. "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Full faith and credit must be given in each state to the public acts and records, and to the judicial proceedings of every other state; and it is left for Congress to determine the manner in which such acts and proceed- Intercitizenings shall be proved or certified. The ship citizens of each state are "entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 1 Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, p. 385. states." There is mutual extradition of criminals, and as a concession to the Southern states it was provided that fugitive slaves should be surrendered to their masters. The United States guarantees to every state a republican form of government; it protects each state against invasion; and on application from the legislature of a state, or from the executive when the legislature cannot be convened, it lends a hand in suppressing insurrection. Mode of making Amendments to the Constitution may at any time be proposed in pursuance of a two thirds vote in both houses of Congress, or by a convention called at the request of the legislatures of two thirds of the states. The amendments are not in force until ratified by three fourths of the states, either through amendments their legislatures or through special conventions, according to the preference of Congress. This makes it difficult to change the Constitution, as it ought to be; but it leaves it possible to introduce changes that are very obviously desirable. The Articles of Confederation could not be amended except by a unanimous vote of the states, and this made their amendment almost impossible. After assuming all debts contracted and engagements made by the United States before its adoption, the Constitution goes on to declare itself the supreme law of the land. By it, and by the laws and treaties made under it, the judges in every state are bound, in spite of anything contrary in the constitution or laws of any state. § 5. The Federal Judiciary. The creation of a federal judiciary was the second principal feature in the Constitution, which transformed our country from a loose confederation into a federal nation, from a Bandof-States into a Banded-State. We have seen that the American people were already somewhat familiar with the method of testing the constitutionality of a law by getting the matter brought before the courts. In the case federal judiof a conflict between state law and federal law, the only practicable peaceful solution is that which is reached through a judicial decision. The federal authority also needs the machinery of courts in order to enforce its own decrees. Need for a ciary The federal judiciary consists of a supreme court, circuit courts, and district courts. At pre1 See above, p. 211. 2 In order to relieve the supreme court of the United States, which had come to be overburdened with business, a new court, with limited appellate jurisdiction, called the circuit court of appeals, was organized in 1892. It consists primarily of nine appeal judges, one for each of the nine circuits. For any given circuit the supreme court justice of the circuit, the appeal judge of the circuit, and the circuit judge constitute the court of appeal. Federal sent the supreme court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. It holds annual sessions in the city of Washington, beginning on the second Monday of October. Each of these nine judges is also presiding judge courts and of a circuit court. The area of the judges United States, not including the territories, is divided into nine circuits, and in each circuit the presiding judge is assisted by special circuit judges. The circuits are divided into districts, seventy-two in all, and in each of these there is a special district judge. The districts never cross state lines. Sometimes a state is one district, but populous states with much business. are divided into two or even three districts. "The circuit courts sit in the several districts of each circuit successively, and the law requires that each justice of the supreme court shall sit in each district of his circuit at least once every two years." 1 District judges are not confined to their own districts; they may upon occasion exchange districts as ministers exchange pulpits. A district judge may, if need be, act as a circuit judge, as a major may command a regiment. All federal judges are appointed by the president, with the consent of the Senate, to serve during good behaviour. Each district has its 1 See Wilson, The State, p. 554. I have closely followed, though with much abridgment, the excellent description of our federal judiciary, pp. 555-561. District at marshals district attorney, whose business is to prosecute offenders against the federal laws and to conduct civil cases in which the national government is either plaintiff or de- torneys and fendant. Each district has also its marshal, who has the same functions under the federal court as the sheriff under the state court. The procedure of the federal court usually follows that of the courts of the state in which it is sitting. The federal jurisdiction covers two classes of cases: (1) those which come before it " because of the nature of the questions involved; for instance, admiralty and maritime cases, navigable waters being within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal authorities, and cases The federal arising out of the Constitution, laws, jurisdiction or treaties of the United States or out of conflicting grants made by different states "; (2) those which come before it " because of the nature of the parties to the suit," such as cases affecting the ministers of foreign powers or suits between citizens of different states. The division of jurisdiction between the upper and lower federal courts is determined chiefly by the size and importance of the cases. In cases where a state or a foreign minister is a party the supreme court has original jurisdiction, in other cases it has appellate jurisdiction, and "any case which involves the interpretation of the Consti |