Samuel Blatchford

“ If the state can claim all the proceeds of the lands entered by its scrip in the state of Wisconsin, after deducting the costs of taxes and expenses and the price of its scrip, does it not claim and get everything it would if the land had been taken up in the name of the state? Is there any stronger or clearer way of saying that a man is entitled to all there is of value in any property than to say he has a right to all the money it will bring after paying taxes and expenses? ”

“ It is matter of common knowledge, that there is an infinite variety of patterns in carpets, and that, between two carpets, of equal cost to make, and equal merit as to durability of fabric and fastness of color, each with a pattern pleasing to the taste, one having a design free to be used, and the other a design protected by a patent, the latter may or may not command in the market a price larger than the former. If it does, then the increased price may fairly be attributed to the design; and there is a solid basis of evidence for profits or damages. ”

“ It can make no difference that the United States acquired the property by bidding one dollar more. To withhold the surplus from the owner would be to violate the fifth amendmen to the constitution, and deprive him of his property without due process of law or take his property for public use without just compensation. If he affirms the propriety of selling or taking more than enough of his land to pay the tax and penalty and interest and costs, and applies for the surplus money, he must receive at least that. ”

“ I think that the act of congress, when prohibiting cohabitation with more than one woman, meant unlawful habitual sexual intercourse. It is, in my opinion, a strained construction of a highly penal statute to hold that a man can be guilty, under that statute, without the accompaniment of actual sexual connection. I know of no instance in which the word 'cohabitation' has been used to describe a criminal offense where it did not imply sexual intercourse. ”

“ Therefore, if it were true that during the whole period in which the pavement was used the public knew how it was constructed, it would make no difference in the result. It is sometimes said that an inventor acquires an undue advantage over the public by delaying to take out a patent, inasmuch as he thereby preserves the monopoly to himself for a longer period than is allowed by the policy of the law; but this cannot be said with justice when the delay is occasioned by a bona fide effort to bring his invention to perfection, or to ascertain whether it will answer the purpose intended. ”

“ It has been often held that the mere fact that one who uses a patented process finds it applicable to more extended use than has been perceived by the patentee is not a defense to a charge of infringement. ”

“ The authority of a public agent depends on the law as it is when he acts. He has only such powers as are specifically granted, and he cannot bind his principal under powers that have been taken away, by simply antedating his contracts. Under such circumstances, a false date is equivalent to a false signature; and the public, in the absence of any ratification of its own, is no more estopped by the one than it would be by the other. After the power of an agent of a private person has been revoked, he cannot bind his principal by simply dating back what he does. ”

“ Cornell, and his connection with this transaction, is appropriate. A man acquiring wealth by his own exertions, the dream of his later years was a university bearing his name, and so munificently endowed as to become, like Yale and Harvard, a center of learning; and his purchase of the scrip, and his transaction with the state, must be interpreted in the line of this thought. It was the glory of a great university which he hoped to realize,-one which would link his name with its glory. The means were subordinate; the glory and strength of Cornell University was the purpose. ”

“ And we have been unable to perceive that the seizure of a man's private books and papers to be used in evidence against him is substantially different from compelling him to be a witness against himself. ”

“ At the trial, the plaintiff asked the court to charge the jury: ' (1) That, if the company united with the agent, and accepted the surrender of the policy in suit from him when he had no authority to make such surrender, and did this without notice to or knowledge of the plaintiff, they cannot complain of the nonpayment of premium after such surrender and acceptance.' To that point the court answered: 'The futile attempt to surrender the policy (and the transaction referred to was nothing more in legal contemplation) had no effect whatever on the rights or obligations of either party. ”