Book Description

Excerpt from Commentaries on Statute and Constitutional Law and Statutory and Constitutional Construction The difficulty of grasping, and at the same time couden sing this subject, presents to the mind, much intrinsic di icul ty, well calculated to embarrass and perplex an author. The subject itself, is of such a nature, as not to be susceptible of illustration and exemplification, like many common law rules, by a few succinct, terse, elementary principles. Without ex. Emplification, and illustration, the elementary principles of constitutional construction, can hardly be so stated as to be clearly understood, or rendered intelligible. Any work on con stitutional law without this, would be a mere digest, and val nless to the profession, except as an index of cases. A con viction of this, has in many instances, induced me to insert at some length, the reasons upon which a particular construc tion has been founded. This has been done to an extent, which would be unwarranted in a commentary upon almost any other juridical subject. In this country, there has, for a long time, been evinced in our legislative bodies, a propensity to legislate, so much so, that even unconstitutional legislation, or at least, that of doubtful constitutionality, has been carried to an alarming extent. An excess of legislation, is one of the greatest evils Wth has engrafted itself upon our politi cal institutions. It has indeed become as a mildew, and blighting curse upon the body politic, and the jurisprudence of the present age. A deep conviction of this fact, has in duced me, in numerous instances, to interpose objections to par ticular acts of legislation, and to protest against their validity. I have endeavored to support such objections by such argu ments and facts, as for the time being, lay within the range of my intellectual powers. Whenever this has been done. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."