Melville Fuller

“ The court said:
'Now, what is justifiable homicide? When can a man slay another? When can he sit as a judge passing upon the law, and a jury passing on the facts, and then as a jury applying the law to those facts, and finding a verdict, and then acting again as a court and entering up judgment, and then going out as a marshal or sheriff and executing that judgment, all at the same time, determining the law,-determining the facts as a judge, jury, and executioner all at the same time? This is a mighty power in the hands of the citizen. ”

“ The trial judge said:
'You have heard in argument here,-incidentally dropped, no doubt, because these things have been repeated here so often in this court that every child knows what the law of self-defense is, that if a man thinks he has a right to slay he can slay. That is a great misapprehension of what this proposition of the law is and what it means. If that was the case, how many men, when they were arraigned for the killing of a human being, would not assert that they thought they had a right to kill? ”

“ Suppose that the judge of this court had that power, how long would the people of this land permit him to sit on this bench? Suppose that you, as twelve dispassionate citizens, had that power, how long would the people of this land permit that system to exist? Suppose that the chief executive officer of this government, the president of the United States, presumably a discreet, wise, and just man, having no other purpose than the good of the people, had that power, how long would these people permit one man to exercise a power of that kind? ”

“ There are two principal grounds on which the doctrine is founded that a contract in restraint of trade is void as against public policy. One is the injury to the public by being deprived of the restricted party's industry; the other is the injury to the party himself by being precluded from pursuing his occupation, and thus being prevented from supporting himself and his family. It is evident that both these evils occur when the contract is general, not to pursue one's trade at all, or not to pursue it in the entire realm or country. ”

“ Were it not for the words 'prosecute to conclusion,' we doubt if any court would hold that the act applied to an appeal or writ of error in a civil cause. The applicant, by the statute, must declare the nature of his cause of action. Surely an erroneous ruling by the trial court cannot be held to furnish a 'cause of action,' as that phrase is commonly understood. The statute, by that term, in our judgment, refers to a legal demand by one against another, not to the rulings of a trial court. ”

“ In my judgment, no transaction of commerce or business, or obligation for the payment of money that is not immoral in its character, and which is not, in its manifest purpose, detrimental to the peace, good order, and general interest of society, can be declared or held to be invalid because enforced or made payable in gold coin or currency when that is established or recognized by the government. And any acts by state authority impairing or lessening the validity or negotiability of obligations thus made payable in gold coin are violative of the laws and constitution of the United States. ”

“ As taxation is the rule, and exemption the exception, the intention to create an exemption must be expressed in clear and unambiguous terms, and it cannot be taken to have been intended when the language of the statute on which it depends is doubtful or uncertain. Legislation which relieves any species of property from its due proportion of the burdens of government must be so clear that there can be neither reasonable doubt nor controversy in regard to its meaning. ”

“ Justice Lamar remarked: 'No distinction is more popular to the common mind, or more clearly expressed in economic and political literature, than that between manufacture and commerce. Manufacture is transformation,-the fashioning of raw materials into a change of form for use. The functions of commerce are different. The buying and selling, and the transportation incidental thereto, constitute commerce; and the regulation of commerce in the constitutional sense embraces the regulation at least of such transportation. ”

“ Even if we were of opinion that the act of congress was not in harmony with the constitution, every presumption was in favor of its validity; and we cannot assent to the proposition that it would have been competent for the commissioner to treat the original decree as absolutely void, and without force and effect as to all persons and for all purposes.
But as, in our opinion, the court of appeals had jurisdiction, we prefer to affirm the judgment on that ground. ”

“ Such a state of case may be said to illustrate and determine what in law would be denominated the 'imperfect right of self-defense.' Whenever a party, by his own wrongful act, produces a condition of things wherein it becomes necessary for his own safety that he should take life, or do serious bodily harm, then, indeed, the law wisely imputes to him his own wrong, and its consequences, to the extent that they may and should be considered in determining the grade of offense, which but for such acts would never have been occasioned. ”

“ Has the bankruptcy court the power to compel the bankrupt or his agent to deliver up money or other assets of the bankrupt, in his possession or that of some one for him, on petition and rule to show cause? Does a mere refusal by the bankrupt or his agent so to deliver up oblige the trustee to resort to a plenary suit in the circuit court or a state court, as the case may be? ”

“ Justice Story defined 'good will' to be 'the advantage or benefit which is acquired by an establishment, beyond the mere value of the capital, stock, funds, or property employed therein, in consequence of the general public patronage and encouragement which it receives from constant or habitual customers on account of its local position, or common celebrity, or reputation for skill or affluence or punctuality, or from other accidental circumstances or necessity, or even from ancient partialities or prejudices.' Story, Partn. ”

“ And yet, under the statute, a fire, marine, or inland insurance company, if it resists a claim for loss, is not liable, when its defense is unsuccessful, to pay any special damages or special attorneys' fee. It can defend any suit brought against it under the same conditions accorded to individual citizens or to corporate bodies generally. But a different and most arbitrary rule is prescribed for life and health insurance companies. Their good faith in refusing to pay a claim for loss, or in defending an action brought to enforce payment of such a claim, is not taken into account. ”

“ On the other hand, can the company deny that McMaster obtained insurance which was not forfeitable for nonpayment of premiums within thirteen months after the first payment?
If it can, by reason of its own act, without McMaster's knowledge, actual or legally imputable, then the company's conduct would have worked a fraud on McMaster in disappointing, without fault on his part, the object for which his money was paid. The motive of the agent to get a bonus for himself rather than to deceive McMaster is not material, as the result of his action would be the same. ”

“ But if an instrument settling property upon a married woman provides that she may pledge it for her husband's debts, there is nothing in the statute to prevent her from so doing.
It is not wrong in itself for a wife, of her own free will, to devote her separate property to the relief of her husband. Obedience to the dictates of duty, or even yielding to the impulses of affection, has in itself no tendency to impair the happiness of the family, but the contrary. ”

“ Still it must be remembered that men may testify truthfully, although their lives hang in the balance, and that the law, in its wisdom, has provided that the accused shall have the right to testify in his own behalf. Such a privilege would be a vain one if the judge, to whose lightest word the jury properly enough give a great weight, should intimate that the dreadful condition in which the accused finds himself should deprive his testimony of probability. ”

“ Laying out of view the suggestion that the immunity from double jeopardy or double punishment of a citizen of Massachusetts, in Massachusetts, is an immunity possessed by him as a citizen of the United States as contradistinguished from a citizen of Massachusetts, we inquire whethere any law of Massachusetts abridges such an immunity, and whether that or any other action of that commonwealth deprives plaintiff in error of his liberty without due process of law. ”

“ The freedom of communication is not abridged, within the intent and meaning of the constitutional provision, unless congress is absolutely destitute of any discretion as to what shall or shall not be carried in the mails, and compelled arbitrarily to assist in the dissemination of matters condemned by its judgment through the governmental agencies which it controls. That power may be abused furnishes no ground for a denial of its existence, if government is to be maintained at all. ”

“ By the constitution of Pennsylvania it has always been declared that all men 'have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness'; and also 'that all courts shall be open, and every man, for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by the due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial, or delay.' Const. ”

“ No rule of law is better settled than that a court of equity will not aid a party whose application is destitute of conscience, good faith, and reasonable diligence, but will discourage stale demands, for the peace of society, by refusing to interfere where there have been gross laches in prosecuting rights, or where long acquiescence in the assertion of adverse rights has occurred. ”

“ Whatever powers the municipal body rightfully enjoys over the subject is derived from the legislature. They are merely administrative, and may be revoked at any time, not touching, of course, any property of the city actually acquired in the course of administration.' But no question involving that distinction arises here. There is no contract with or grant to the public road board which the state could not resume; and in no aspect can the board be regarded as acting in a private capacity, or as having acquired a private interest in real estate struck off to it for want of purchasers. ”

“ The mere fact that a court may differ with the legislature in its views of public policy, or that judges may hold views, inconsistent with the propriety of the legislation in question, affords no ground for judicial interference, unless the act in question is unmistakably and palpably in excess of legislative power. ”

“ Obviously, that section of the Constitution that declares 'the general assembly may pass laws permitting the owners or occupants of lands to construct drains or ditches, for agricultural and sanitary purposes,' implies that the community whose property is to be taxed may have the right of election in the matter. Otherwise, an onerous burden may be imposed upon them, without their consent, and such proceedings might be had as would result in the deprivation of property. How can the land owners be permitted to construct drains and ditches, unless some election is guaranteed to them? ”

“ As the jurors are the triors of facts, expressions of opinion by the court should be so guarded as to leave the jury free in the exercise of their own judgments. They should be made distinctly to understand that the instruction is not given as to a point of law by which they are to be governed, but as a mere opinion as to the facts, to which they should give no more weight than it was entitled to. ”