Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States

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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2005 - 1408 oldal
Reprint of the second edition, with additions by his son, W.W. Story [1819-1895]. Originally published: Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1851. Two volumes. xxxiii, 734; 632 pp.

First published in 1833, this work is generally considered to be the most important work written on the American Constitution before the Civil War, and it remains an important work. Dedicated to John Marshall, it presents a strongly Nationalist interpretation. It is divided into three books. Book I contains a history of the colonies and discussion of their charters. Book II discusses the Continental Congress and analyzes the fl aws that crippled the Articles of Confederation. Book III begins with a history of the Constitution and its ratification. This is followed by a brilliant line-by-line exposition of each of its articles and amendments. Comparing it to The Federalist, James Kent said that Story's work was "written in the same free and liberal spirit, with equal exactness and soundness of doctrine, and with great beauty and eloquence of composition.... Whoever seeks...a complete history and exposition of this branch of our jurisprudence, will have recourse to [this] work, which is written with great candor, and characterized by extended research, and a careful examination of the vital principles upon which our government reposes." cited in Marvin, Legal Bibliography 669-670.

Apart from James Kent, no man has had greater influence on the development of American law than Joseph Story [1779-1845]. He was Dane Professor of Law at Harvard, where he played a key role in the growth of the school and the establishment of its national eminence. His many books have been cited extensively to this day. An associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1812 to 1845, and the youngest person ever to serve on the Court, he was the author of several landmark decisions, such as Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and Prigg v. Pennsylvania.

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163. oldal - States; regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians not members of any of the States — provided that the legislative right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or violated...
164. oldal - ... and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a Commander-in-chief of the army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same...
163. oldal - The United States in congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states...
187. oldal - States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union ; and to report such an act for that purpose, to the United States, in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them, and afterward confirmed by the legislatures of every state, will effectually provide for the same.
28. oldal - God, and of one 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 virtue 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 obedience.
238. oldal - In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence.
189. oldal - Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to be obtained. ,It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved ; and on the present occasion this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests.
296. oldal - The powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.' The government of the United States, therefore, can claim no powers which are not granted to it by the constitution, and the powers actually granted must be such as are expressly given, or given by necessary implication.
309. oldal - A constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind. It would probably never be understood by the public. Its nature therefore requires that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and...
162. oldal - All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more states, whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the states which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall on the petition of either party to the congress of...

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