Front matter
.6*
* 4
^0* fr
Chapter II
History of the Constitution of the United States . Sect. I. Events before the War of Independence . . . II. Events from the beginning of the War of Inde pendence to the formation of the Constitution III. The formation of the Constitution
10 16
CHAPTER IV. Comments upon the Constitution of the United States . 38
Sect. I. What our Constitution is 38
n. The reconciliation of State rights and national
sovereignty 44
III. The distribution of power 47
IV. The executive power ... 48
The Vice-President 50
V. The legislative power 51
VI. Of the Senate 53
Power as to their own members 55
VJJ, The House of Representatives ...... 55 iv CONTENT*.
Chapter IV. — Continued,
Sect. VIII. Privileges of senators and representatives . . 56
Freedom from arrest . 56
Not to be questioned elsewhere for speech in
either House . ; . . 57
IX. Power to regulate commerce ...... 57
Commerce with foreign nations 57
Power to regulate commerce among the States 58
Railroads 59
Can Congress regulate the freights on railroads 60
Internal improvements ........ 63
X. Taxes 64
XI. On the judiciary 71
XII. Of impeachment 76
Who may be impeached 77
For what offences an officer may be impeached 78
XIII. The war power 78
Articles of war • • 79
Military Academy 80
The Naval Academy 80
Wars of this country 81
The second war 81
The third war 82
The fourth war 82
The fifth war 83
XIV. Power to borrow money 83
XV. Power to coin money ......... 85
XVI. Of naturalization • 87
Laws of naturalization 88
XVII. Admission of new States 94
XVIII. A republican form of government guaranteed • 95
XIX. Of amendments to the Constitution .... 96
Amendments, How made • 97
XX. Of the census.. • 98
CHAPTER V. The Constitutions of the Several States 107
New Hampshire < •• 107
CONTENTS.
Cha.pter V. — Continued.
Rhode Island 110
Connecticut Ill
Pennsylvania - . 115
Delaware 117
Ohio 131
The North-west Territory 131
Florida 144
Iowa 14 8
Nevada 155
New Mexico 156
Utah 157
Washington 15§
Colorado # 159
Dakota I59
Arizona 160
Idaho 160
V1 CONTENTS.
Chapter V. — Continued.
Montana • 161
Wyoming 161
Alaska 162
Indian Territory • • . . 163
District of Columbia 163
Table 167
Book Second
j. HE PERSONAL RIGHTS OF A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I. The Writ of Habeas Corpus • • • . . 171
Form annexed to this chapter 175
CHAPTER II. The Right to Personal Security 176
Sect. I. Trial by jury 176
II. No person shall be tried twice for the same offence 179
HI. Excessive bail 180
IV. Excessive fines 181
Cruel and unusual punishment 181
V. Bill of attainder 182
VI. Ex post facto Ism 182
VII. The right to assemble and petition government . 183
VTII. Impairing the obligation of contracts . . . . 184
CHAPTER HI.
The Right to Freedom of Speech and of Writing . . 186
Libel 186
Slander 186
Truth as a defence 187
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER V. Military Rights and Duties • • • • 188
CHAPTER VL
The Right and Duty op Suffrage • • . • 189
The right of suffrage • 190
CHAPTER VH.
The Rights and Duties growing out of the Domestic
Relations 201
Sect. I. Parent and child 201
Infants or minors 202
Guardian and ward 205
Apprentices 207
II. Husband and wife 210
Connecticut 214
Delaware ••... 215
Florida 215
Iowa . 218
Nevada 226
Tiii CONTENTS.
Chapter VII. — Continued. New Hampshire ...... 227
Ohio 229
Pennsylvania ...'.... 230
Ehode Island 231
Marriage . 235
Divorce • • • • 245
Book Third. The Property Rights Of A Citizen Op The United States
CHAPTER L.
Eminent Domain 251
CHAPTER II.
The Acquisition op Property 252
CHAPTER ILL Jhe Distribution op the Property of an Intestate . . 253 The distribution of personal estate 254
CHAPTER IV.
Op the Disposal of Property by Will . 255
Sect I. Of wills 255
II. Codicils 258
CONTENTS. ix
Chapter IV. — Continued.
Sect. III. Revocation of wills • • • . . 258
IV. Executors and administrators 265
CHAPTER V.
Deeds of Land 273
Sect. I. What is esssential to deeds conveying land • . 273
II. The usual clauses in deeds 278
III. Mortgages of land 284
CHAPTER VI.
Purchase and Sale op Goods and Chattels 355
Sect. I. What constitutes a sale 355
II. Delivery and its incidents 3$9
III. Contracts void for illegality or fraud . . . . . 363
IV. Sales with warranty 3\S5
V. The sale of one's business ......... 309
VI. Stoppage in transitu 370
CHAPTER VH.
Mortgages of Goods and Chattels 372
The pledge of personal property 373
CHAPTER Vm.
Letting and Hiring of Real Property 379
Leases » . 379
Fixtures 382
CHAPTER XII. Agreements 420
Sect. I. The legal meaning of agreement • • . . • . 420
Mistakes. 421
Fraud 421
II. What is an assent 422
III. Offers made on time 422
IV. A bargain by correspondence 423
V. What evidence may be received in reference to a
written contract 424
VT. Custom or usage 426
How contracts or agreements should be made . 428 Forms annexed to this chapter .... 429-443
CHAPTER XV. Guaranty 457
Sect. J. Of the rights and duties of a guarantor 457
II. The Statute of Frauds 462
A promise to pay the debt of another .... 463
An agreement not to be performed within a year . 464
The form and subject-matter of the agreement . 465
CHAPTER XVI. Payment and Tender 466
Sect. I. How payment may be made . .466
H. Appropriation of payment 467
CONTENTS.
XI
CHAPTER XVII. Receipts and Releases 468
CHAPTER XVJU.
Notes op Hand and Bills op Exchange, Drafts, and
Checks 481
Sect. I. The purpose of, and the parties to, such papers . 481
II. What is essential to a negotiable note or bill . . 484
Form annexed to this section 485
III. The consideration of negotiable paper . . . . 491
IV. The rights and duties of the maker 493
V. The rights and duties of the holder of negotiable paper 494
VI. The rights and duties of the indorser . . . . 504
VII. The rights and duties of the acceptor .... 507
VIII. Acceptance or payment for honor 508
Chapter XIX
Sect. I. Agency in general 512
II. How authority may be given to an agent . . . 514
III. Extent and duration of authority 516
IV. The execution of authority 518
V. Liability of an agent 519
VI. Rights of action growing out of agency . . . 519
VII. How a principal is affected by the acts of his agent 520
VIII. Mutual rights and duties of principal and agent . 521
IX. Factors and brokers 523
CHAPTER XX. Partnership 532
Sect. I. What a partnership is 532
H. How a partnership may be formed 532
in. How a partnership may be dissolved 534
IV. The property of the partnership 536
V. The authority of each partner, and the joint
liability of the partnership 537
VI. Remedies of partners • gainst each other . . . 540
XU CONTENTS.
Chapter XX. — Continued.
Sect. VII. Rights of the firm against third parties . . . 542
VIII. Rights of creditors in respect to funds .... 542
IX. The effects of dissolution 544
X. Limited partnership 545
CHAPTER XXI. Arbitration 551
Sect. I. Of the submission and award . 551
II. The revocation of a submission to arbitrators . . . 554
CHAPTER XXII. The Carriage op Goods and Passengers 558
Sect. I. A private carrier 558
H. The common carrier 559
III. Bills of lading 561
IV. The obligation of the common carrier to receive
and carry goods or passengers 562
V. The lien of the common carrier 566
VI. The liability of the common carrier ..... 567
VII. The carrier of passengers 568
VHI. A notice by the carrier respecting his liability . 569 IX. The carrier's liability for goods carried by passengers 570
CHAPTER XXHI.
Fire Insurance 576
Sect. I. The usual subject and form of this insurance . . 576
Usage 577
H. The construction of policies against fire . . . 578
Applications 580
III. The interest of the insured 584
IV. Double insurance 586
V. Warranty and representation 587
VI. The risk incurred by the insurers 589
VII. Valuation 590
VIII. Alienation . . . 591
IX. Notice and proof . 592
X. Adjustment and loss . . 593
CONTENTS. xiii
CHAPTER XXIV. Life Insurance 597
Sect. I. The purpose and method of life insurance . . . 597
II. The premium 598
III. The restrictions and exceptions in life policies . . 599
IV. The interest of the insured 600
V. The assignment of a life policy 601
VI. Warranty, representation, and concealment . . . 602 VII. Insurance against accident, disease, and dishonesty
of servants . 605
CHAPTER XXV. Bankruptcy 605
Voluntary bankruptcy. — Commencement of proceedings . . 606
Assignments and assignees 608
The distribution of the bankrupt's estate 613
The bankrupt's discharge and its effect 615
Preferences and fraudulent conveyances declared void . . . 618
Involuntary bankruptcy 619
Of superseding the bankrupt proceedings by arrangement . 621
Composition with creditors 623
CHAPTER XXVI. Limitations 625
Sect. I. The Statute of Limitations ........ 625
II. Construction of the statute 626
III. The new promise . 627
IV. Part-payment 628
V. Some statutory exceptions 628
VI. When the period of limitation begins 629
Vn. The statute does not affect collateral security . . 630
CHAPTER XXVII. Interest and Usury 630
Sect. I. What interest is, and when it is due 630
H. A charge for risk or for service 634
III. The sale of notes 635
IV. Compound interest 637
Abstracts of the usury laws of the States . . . 637 xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVni.
The Law of Place 640
Sect. I. What is meant by the law of place 640
II. The general principles of the law of place . . . 641
III. The place of the contract 642
TV. Domicile 643
CHAPTER VI. Of Motions •• 661
CHAPTER VH.
Resolutions and Orders 661
Seconding • • • • . 661
Withdrawing a motion • • • • . 662
CHAPTER Vm.
The Order op Motions 662
CHAPTER IX.
Motion to adjourn 662
CHAPTER X.
To lie on the Table . 663
CHAPTER XI.
The Previous Question 663
chapter: XIL
Postponement to a Day Certain ...«••••. 664
CHAPTER XILL To commit 664
CHAPTER XIV.
Motion to amend • • . . 66$
CHAPTER XV.
How Committees are appointed 667
How the committee meet and act 668
Minority reports 668
CHAPTER XVL Committee op the Whole 668 xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
Privileged Questions 669
CHAPTER XVIH.
Orders of the Dat • 670
CHAPTER XIX.
How the Presiding Officer puts Questions 670
How the vote may be ascertained •••671
Taking the question by yeas and nays • • . 671
CHAPTER XX.
How a Motion is made . . 672
Rules and usages of debate ...••••••••• 672
CHAPTER XXI.
Appeals from a Presiding Officer •••••••• 673
CHAPTER XXH.
Reconsideration . . . 673
CHAPTER XXIH.
Of a Bill 674
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Preservation of Order . . 675
Glossary of Law Terms in Common Use ,. 677
Book First. The Political Rights Of A Citizen Of The United States
NOTE.
I have believed that a book exhibiting the provisions and the principles of our national constitution, with the history of its formation, and the means by which republican institutions may be made most productive of good, and guarded from the dangers which most nearly threaten them, would be useful ; and I have attempted to do this in the First Book in this volume.
The Second Book contains a view of the personal rights so secured to all our citizens by our constitutions and laws, that only our neglect or abuse of them can impair or imperil them.
The Third Book states in simple and untechnical language the laws and rules, by an observance of which all the kinds of business in common use may be safely transacted.
Then follows a Treatise on the Rules of Order in Deliberative Bodies. A knowledge of these rules is especially necessary in this country, where nearly all its public business, — from Congress down to our town meetings, — and much of its private business, — as in meetings of stockholders and the like, — are governed by these rules ; and all such meetings would avoid disorder, and accomplish their purposes far better, if these rules were generally known and regarded.
The volume closes with a Glossary, or Dictionary, of Law Terms in common use. The language of the law, to a large extent, may be easily taught ; and as without it the rules under which we all live and act cannot be well understood, it would seem that it might be usefully learned.
All that part of this volume which is taken from my former works has been carefully revised and amended.
r Theophilus Parsons.
Cambridge, 1874.
Chapter I. What A Constitution Is
The political rights of a citizen of the United States are denned, established, and protected by the Constitution of the United States, and the constitutions of the several States. Our first endeavor will be to ascertain what this word "constitution," when used in a political sense, means.
A constitution is that supreme law, which the nation itself makes, as the condition and the limitation of all the powers it will thereafter impart to its political servants. It is the guide which it gives to them all. It is the expression of the deliberate determination of the whole people, that the rights which it believes to lie at the foundation of all right, shall ever be preserved ; that certain principles, which are to be as the life and essence of all law, shall ever be maintained ; and it divides and defines, and yet connects together, all the organic powers and functions of the State. It governs all legislative bodies in the exercise of their functions, for it is the law of the law of the nation. And when the constitution is thus formed, it is thereafter the supreme law of every citizen of the State, be he high or low, be it his office to make, to execute, or to judge of law, or only to assist in laying these duties upon others. To every man, and to every man alike, it is a supreme law.
The imperfect imitations of a constitution on the continent of Europe, and on this continent south of the Union, were never the expression or the creation of the deliberate reason and will of the people ; they never were what constitutions should be, and nearly all ol them have been torn into tatters.
We often read of the British Constitution. But Great Britain has no constitution. Let us suppose that, at the next session of the British Parliament, a rigorous censorship of the press is established, the Queen authorized to lay what taxes she will, on whom she will, and collect them as she will, the Habeas Corpus Act repealed, and all the ministers supplied with blank warrants under the privy seal, as it once was in France, which they may fill with any name, and by these means imprison any persons at their pleasure. And let us suppose that these laws pass through Parliament with precisely the same forms as those necessary for a statute to regulate the days of grace on bills of exchange, or to provide any oth< r common mercantile or municipal measure. It is certain that no man in England would have a legal right to resist any one of these laws; and no court or magistrate in England would have a legal right to obstruct, or defeat, or annul them, or do any other thing than carry them at once into full force and effect. Of course, if the popular sentiment were not greatly changed, there would be opposition and effectual resistance somewhere. But it would be the opposition of rebellion or revolution, and not of legal right. But let any such law be passed by Congress and the President of the United States, or by the legislature and governor of any State, and it is only nothing. It is dead at its birth. The judicial body of the nation or the State is ready to declare it to be nothing. And the reason for all this is, that the law opposes the constitution, and, by the force of that fact, is nothing. If, in England, the word "constitution" may mean the whole complex of all their political and legal institutions, here it means something distinct from them all, something sovereign over them all, imparting life to all of them that live, and denying life and power to whatever opposes it.
The government of these United States is this day the strongest government in the world, for it is the organ of a nation endowed with self-government, and is invested with the nation's might, to be used for the nation's good, in whatever fray may prove to be the best. It is the government of law, and its strength is in the Constitution. We are a nation that includes as wide a diversity of opinion, of sentiment, of character, and of interest, as of soil and climate. Bat over us all the Constitution bends like the universal sky, holding us all within its embrace, but lifted up too high for any one to reach it with a sacrilegious hand. Like the sky, it comes down as the beneficent air, which surrounds us at every step and at every moment; supplying us with the element of political life, and yet so soft, so yielding and invisible, that we do not think of it as we engage in the work or enjoy the happiness of every day. Soft, yielding, and invisible is this sweet air we breathe and live upon ;
A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
and yet it may, when there is need, put forth its strength, — and who can stand against the might of the unfettered wind !
The strength of our constitutional government must reside in its gentleness, and in the opportunity which is given by its gentleness, for passion to calm down, and stubbornness to melt away, and the wanderer to return, and that which is right and best to become manifest to all men. It must reside in its patient forbearance while that is possible, and in its cautious mildness as far as that is possible; in its power, derived from this very gentleness, of adaptedness to every exigency ; and, therefore, of adequacy to any exigency which may call upon it, either to bring into action its whole irresistible might, or to take any other course which a comprehensive and clear-sighted wisdom may approve.
"Sot is our constitution a fetter imposed by the past upon the present and the future, fixed and crystallized into forms which may be broken but cannot change. The exact opposite of this is the truth. It is a living organism. It invites and provides for change. It desires all changes, in all time, which shall make it ever more able to perform its great functions. But it carefully provides that these changes shall come only as a common demand, shall be matured by a common deliberation, and rest on a common consent ; common, not universal, for that it is too wise to require or to expect.
Section I. Events Before The War Of Independence
We might trace back to the very beginning* of history, the series of events which led to the formation of our constitution. We can only glance at this series now. Let us begin with the inquiry, what the best government must be; and the answer should be, in one word, self-government. On this topic, as on so many others, we may be helped by remembering that as a nation is composed of men, it cannot contain any other elements of national character than those which are contributed by the men of the nation. And when we look at men individually, and from the study of human character reach certain definite laws and conclusions concerning human life in the individual, we may well hope that these laws and concisions will throw some light upon similar questions as they exist in reference to a nation.
The hest definition or description of a republican constitutional government may be found in the often-quoted words of President Lincoln. It is a government " of the people, by the people, for the people." But these words are often used with an ignorance or disregard of their exact and most important meaning; for they are used as if government " of" the people and government " by " the people meant the same thing. There can be no greater mistake. Government' of the people means that the people shall be governed ; as really and effectually governed as under any form of government. But never oppressively or tyrannically, because they are governed by themselves. They govern themselves, for and in their own best interests. And if they are not governed, if they do not govern themselves, those interests are disregarded and defeated. For what is the besf government for an individual ? If I put the question in another shape, — if I ask whether he is best governed who is surrendered to his own fantasies and proclivities and lusts, and exasperates all these by utter unrestraint, and makes no reference to right or wrong, or the law of God or the law of man, the question answers itself. I am describing a man who has done all that he can do to become only a wild beast. Better were it for him that some arm of power should hold him, some fear restrain him, some irresistible command control him, and all thesS influences compel him to decent conduct. Then, it might at least be possible that his lusts and follies, because they were repressed, would be enfeebled. If so, it might again be possible that the severity of external control could be safely relaxed ; that some acknowledgment of law, some thought of right, would begin to exert a power within him, and thereby facilitate the entrance of yet better thoughts and higher motives, and that this advancing and ascending progress might go on, until a control from within accepted and welcomed a control from without as a necessary help. And the consummation of all this would come when the law of truth, of right, and of instructed conscience was all the law he needed, all the law he felt ; and this law put him at ease with the system of law prevailing all around him, and the man stood and lived in perfect peace with the law and perfect peace with himself.
This is but an ideal picture ; far from the reality existing in the best of us. It is, however, a picture of that last result towarda which we are led by all moral improvement, all elevation of motive, all recognition of the authority of right, and all confirmation of our love of goodness.
A CITIZEN- OF THE UNITED STATES.
I cannot but think that the history of the past and the condition of the present lead to the conclusion that a law and method of progress, somewhat analogous at least, prevail in the growth of nations. History is but the biography of man; and the lessons which are taught by the life of mankind cannot be altogether remote and diverse from those we may gather from the lives of men.
To see how the progress of mankind has accorded with these principles, we must go far back towards the beginning ; and it is of course impossible to give more than the most cursory glance at the evidence which the pages of history offer. But even this glance will show us that while government was known only as unmitigated despotism in the Eastern and ancient world, it received important modifications as it passed through Greece ; and that the despotism of the central power of the vast empire of Rome was accompanied with a singular amount of freedom and self-government in the cities and boroughs and lesser provinces into which the Roman empire was divided. In this way some preparation was made for the feudal system, which was, in theory, a government of laws and not of men, for it assigned his own place and his own rights to every man. And so the possibility of deliverance from a wholly external; control, from a power which was over him and against him, instead of one which was accepted by him as his own and as selfdmposed, grew from age to age.
A few centuries ago, four great discoveries, or ratte the bringing within reach and use of four things known but neglected before, came near together and distinguished that period from any other in history. One of these was the mariner's compass £ and it guided Columbus to America. The discovery of this continent was another. Gunpowder, the third, made the subjection of this continent easy and rapid. And the press, which was the fourth discovery, diffused among expecting nations the tidings of this new world, and spread widely a knowledge of the advantages which it offered ; and this soon brought to our shores the beginning of a new population. This grew up under the fostering and needed care of the parent races, until the colony was strong enough to become a State.
Something like this had often happened before. History is fall of stories of successful colonization, and of young nations which cast off dependence when they were strong enough to break their fetters. But something else happened now that never occurred before. In all previous instances where colonies grew into States, they became substantially what their parents were. "When the new shoot was rooted, it was the old tree again, with more or less unimportant change from soil or climate or position. Not so here. Our colonial fathers were at first subjects of a king, as all the h>
8 THE POLITICAL RIGHTS Oe
habitants of earth, with few and slight exceptions, under some form or name, were and always had been. But when our fathers ceased to be subjects of their king, they founded States without a king; and in this simple fact they indicated, and the wiser among them saw, the dawn of a new day in the life of mankind.
This new world, thus and then discovered, was near enough to the old world to receive colonists with no more hinderance and difficulty than were useful to sift out the weak from the strong, that the seed of a new nation might have due vitality. Far enough from the old world to prevent an immediate and controlling influence from stretching across the waters and causing the future to be but a repetition of the past; far enough to permit the germs of nations planted here to grow up into the great possibility which awaited them. And then the hour came, and the last word of God's providence in human government was uttered when he said to a great nation, " Go forth, be free, and govern yourselves."
The great question for this country is, shall we be deaf to this word ? In the infinite future there may be and will be vast changes and infinite improvements. These will lessen, or remedy, or prevent many evils which we already discern, and many more which we do not yet discern, in our republican institutions; and whatever good has yet come, or may now be hoped for from these institutions, will be increased a thousand fold, as they are changed for the better. But the nations will never again regard as the only possible or desirable government, that of a power distinct from the people, and deriving no force and no life from their consent and voluntary recognition. The work we have begun will not be suppressed and extinguished. It will live, and it will grow into the fulness of its stature ; and that it may live and grow, the wants, the deficiencies, and the errors of any age will be disclosed by whatever lessons may be necessary to teach them, and will be remedied by whatever means are then found best for that purpose. For the period in the progress of mankind has been reached when a government was to be formed, which should possess, and in time of need be able to exert, the force of the nation for national purposes, and the combined power of its component parts for all those purposes which embrace the interests of all, and yet leave each of those parts, States, cities, families, and individuals, in the utmost possible freedom to enjoy the blessing and discharge the duty of self-government. When before, where else, has this ever been the design of government?
The colonies, from their beginning, exercised a large amount — some more and some less — of self-government. They knew that this must be so, and in some cases provided for it. A noticeable instance of this occurred among the founders of the colony of Flymouth in New England. The "Mayflower" dropped her anchor in the roadstead of what is now Provincetown, on Cape Cod, Nov. 11, /1GI20. A journal of their proceedings says : — / " This day, before we came to harbor, observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose, and set our hands to this that follows, word for word." The following instrument was prepared and signed : —
" In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c, having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king ard country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virt'ie hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony ; unto which we promise all due submission and obei'iience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620."
The opening of the book is shown; the full text loads in the reader.
Loading the full text…
The end
You’ve reached the end of The political, personal, and property rights of a citizen of the United States. How to exercise and how to preserve them. Together with I. A treatise on the rules of organization and procedure in deliberative assemblies; II. A glossary of law terms in common use.