A Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States; with a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before The

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX. While the last of the foregoing sheets were passing through the press, appeared the decisions of the Supreme Court in two exceedingly important cases, giving a construction to the three new amendments to the Constitution. The editor greatly regrets that his own work was so far advanced as to preclude their being made use of and freely copied from in the preparation of the text of his three supplementary chapters; but as the views he has expressed are fortunately in harmony with those opinions, perhaps the general purpose which would have been had in view in incorporating them in the body of the work, may be sufficiently accomplished by a reference to them here, and by liberal quotations from the most important. The leading case was that of The Lite Stock Dealers and Butchers Association v. The Crescent City Live Stock Landing and Slaughter House Company, and was brought to the court by writ of error to the Supreme Court of Louisiana. A case in the circuit court involving the same questions is reported in 1 Abb. U. S. Rep. 888, to which a reference is made for the facts. In this place it will be sufficient to say that the plaintiff in error denied the right of the defendant in error to certain exclusive privileges which had been granted to the latter by the legislature of Louisiana, and which had been sustained by the Supreme Court of the State. The statute conferring these privileges, it is said by Mr. Justice Miller, delivering the opinion of the majority of the court, "is denounced not only as creating a monopoly and conferring odious and exclusive privileges upon a small number of persons at the expense of the great body of the community of New Orleans, but it is asserted that it deprives a large and meritorious class of...