William Johnson

“ All this doctrine I deny. I have already observed that governments cannot be too liberal in extending the right to individuals; but as to its being unalienable, or unaffected by the social compact, I consider it to be no more so than the right to hold, devise, or inherit the lands or acquisitions of an individual. The right to enjoy, transmit, and inherit the fruits of our own labour, or of that of our ancestors, stands on the same footing with the right to employ our industry wherever it can be best employed ”

“ If it is the correct sense of the common law that the exemplification of a patent is as good evidence as the patent itself, I am yet to be made acquainted with the authority that sustains the doctrine. ”

“ But when the assets are in fact wasted, I cannot conceive that a court of equity would ever compel the sureties to pay up the administration bond for the relief of the heirs. Their liability is legally confined to the demands of creditors and distributees alone: and I can see no equity in subjecting them directly or indirectly to the general equity of the heirs, in stretching that liability beyond its strict legal limits. ”

“ But on the other hand, when we consider the partial independence of each commander of a vessel, and that the association is not a subject of contract, but founded on the orders of their government, which leave them no election, it would be dangerous indeed, and dampening to the ardour of enterprise, to trammel a commander with fears of liability, where it is not possible, from the nature of the service, and the delicate rules of etiquette, for him always to direct or control the actions of those under his command. ”

“ A legislature would be the most dangerous of all despotisms, if it may single out an individual, as in this instance, post factum and post mortem, depriving his family of the law common to all the rest of the community, but closing the courts of justice against that family alone. ”

“ If in the very nature of things, there is no one who may not be actually ousted and actually held out of possession, whether lessor, mortgagor, trustee, or tenant in common, as is affirmed in the case of Willison vs. Watkins, and other cases; how is it possible, that any deed, or any circumstance should preclude a resort to proof of absolute adverse possession, where it exists in fact? ”

“ In the case before us, it is not too much to pronounce the claim of those of the crew of the Puyerredon who libel for salvage, to be not only groundless but impudent; for, besides spoliation, smuggling, and the grossest irregularities, it is perfectly clear, from the pilot's evidence, that they run the vessel on shore purposely. So, that whatever may have been the reality of their benevolent designs towards the Spanish owners originally, their subsequent conduct not only casts a doubt over their candour, but devests them of all pretensions to compensation. ”

“ If I could bring myself to consider this question in the form in which it is considered by the majority of the Court, I should certainly concur in the opinion, that the tax was unconstitutional. For, the exercise of a power, which, under the mask of imposing a tax, may defeat or impede the operation of the government of the United States in borrowing money, could not be tolerated. ”

“ In attempts to construe the Constitution, I have never found much benefit resulting from the inquiry whether the whole or any part of it is to be construed strictly or literally. The simple, classical, precise, yet comprehensive language in which it is couched leaves, at most, but very little latitude for construction, and when its intent and meaning is discovered, nothing remains but to execute the will of those who made it in the best manner to effect the purposes intended. ”

“ I make no doubt that there are at this moment thousands of grants lying unclaimed in the land office, every one of which has been copied into the register. The truth is, the grant is a separate thing, from the true original; and the facsimile of it (if it may be so called in the register,) is nothing more than a copy; so that the paper here dignified with the epithet of an exemplification is nothing more than a copy of a copy, and therefore always considered in practice as evidence of an inferior order. ”

“ Transfers of property have assumed it, to an extent not to be denied, but, according to a printed paper put forth on the part of the plaintiffs, embracing more than two millions of acres.
Is it competent to the plaintiffs, at this time of day, to dispute the settlement? Can they be permitted, by such exceptions as are here presented to what was so long ago done, to disturb the titles thus derived under the laws of Pennsylvania? If there were not a paper or a witness, is there not ample evidence? Can they, who have lain by, now demand proof of what was done thirty-four years ago? ”

“ There can be no doubt that if the William King was carried off to Jamaica by actual force, it was an act which wanted the concurrence of the will, and, therefore, innocent. But, whatever is done in fraud of a law is done in violation of it; and if a vessel, with an original intention to go to a foreign port, complied with the requisition necessary to obtain a clearance on a voyage coastwise, this is but the device by which she eludes the force that would otherwise have prevented her departure from the port. ”

“ It is, whether an American citizen, fitting out a vessel in an American port, really to cruize against a power at peace with the United States, is protected by a commission from a power belligerent as to the power against which he undertakes to cruize, from offences committed by him against the United States? ”

“ What right has any one to complain, when a reasonable time has been given him, if he has not been vigilant in asserting his rights? All the reasonable purposes of justice are subserved, if the courts of a state have been left open to the prosecution of suits for such a time as may reasonably raise a presumption in the occupyer of the soil that the fruits of his labour are effectually secured beyond the chance of litigation. ”

“ Usury is a mortal taint wherever it exists, and no subterfuge shall be permitted to conceal it from the eye of the law; this is the substance of all the cases, and they only vary as they follow the detours through which they have had to pursue the money lender. But one difficulty presents itself here of no ordinary kind. It is not very easy to discover how the taint of Rhode-Island usury can infuse itself into the veins of a Kentucky contract. The defence would not admit of a moment's reflection if it rested on the direct effects which laws against usury have upon contracts. ”

“ The opinion, (whether a fee simple, or an estate for years) will not alter the nature of the judgment, which, in my opinion, will be only of such interest as the party had in the estate, and, if tried in ejectment, can only operate so far. I own, privately I was of opinion that an attachment ought to lie against a mortgagor's interest, because he is considered, in chancery, as the owner; because I would not send a man to chancery in so plain a case where there ought to have been conformity in law; and because all men would secure themselves under this artifice. ”

“ The rule of law, that a plaintiff must recover by the strength of his own title, and not the weakness of his adversary's, must be limited and explained by the nature of each case as it arises. Since the rule is universal, that a plaintiff in ejectment must show the right to possession to be in himself positively, and it is immaterial as to his right of recovery, whether it be out of the tenant or not, if it be not in himself, it follows that a tenant is always at liberty to prove the title out of the plaintiff, although he does not prove it to exist in himself. ”

“ Where any reasonable grounds can be laid hold of to sustain a verdict in their behalf, there is reason to believe that, on questions of right, considerations of every kind in favour of freedom will always have, at least, their full weight. On the other hand, the natural repugnance of man at remaining in that state is a consideration of great weight in sustaining the presumption from lapse of time. ”

“ It has already been decided, in such cases, that it is not necessary to show probable cause; that the law confides in the discretion of the collector, and is, in itself, a sufficient justification, when the discharge of duty is the real motive, and not the pretext for detention. But it has also been decided, that the law relates only to vessels ostensibly bound to some port in the United States; that a seizure is unjustifiable after the termination of a voyage; and that no further detention of the cargo is lawful than what is necessarily dependent upon the detention of the vessel. ”

“ But if it be insisted that the court transcended its powers in making such a rule, then may the practice of the state and United States courts from time immemorial, and the actual existing practice of the courts of the states at this day, as well as the reason of the thing, be urged in its vindication: and if it be objected that the case was one in which the court below might have relaxed its rule; then it may be fairly asked, how is it possible for one mind to dictate to another on such a subject? It is an exercise of discretion which can be limited and directed by no fixed rule. ”

“ It is impossible, with the views which I entertain of the principle on which the commercial privileges of the people of the United States among themselves rests, to concur in the view which this Court takes of the effect of the coasting license in this cause. I do not regard it as the foundation of the right set up in behalf of the appellant. If there was any one object riding over every other in the adoption of the Constitution, it was to keep the commercial intercourse among the States free from all invidious and partial restraints. ”

“ There was no arbitrary assumption or exertion of authority, no interference with the exercise of judicial power, no invasion of the province of the judiciary, nothing which bears the most remote resemblance to seizure or confiscation of property. ”

“ We say nothing of the rights or remedies of the defendant in attachment against the plaintiff: the question here is, whether the sheriff, under such circumstances, is not warranted by his writ in proceeding to act. How can he undertake to decide the question of liability between the parties; or what security has he against the plaintiff, should he act erroneously in not pursuing the exigences of his writ? No question of property is here raised between him and the defendant; for the levy and detention and plea, all affirm the property to be in the defendant in attachment. ”

“ That the states have an unlimited power to effect the one, and are divested of power to do the other, are propositions equally unquestionable; but where to draw the discriminating line is the great difficulty. I fear it is an insuperable difficulty.
The terms, 'bills of credit,' are in themselves vague and general, and, at the present day, almost dismissed from our language. It is then only by resorting to the nomenclature of the day of the constitution, that we can hope to get at the idea which the framers of the constitution attached to it. ”

“ It is not easy to draw the line between the remedy and the right, where the remedy constitutes so important a part of the right; nor is it easy to reduce into practice the exercise of a plenary power over contracts, without the right to declare by what evidence contracts shall be judicially established. Suppose the state of Ohio had declared that the undertaking of the drawer and endorser of a note, shall be joint and not several, or contingent; and that such note shall be good evidence to maintain an action for money lent and advanced; would not this become a law of the contract? ”

“ But where an individual, supposing his warrant located on black acre, when it is, in fact, located on white acre, conveys the former by metes and bounds, it must be a strong case that will sanction a court in setting aside the conveyance of the one, and decreeing that of the other. It is in vain to say, in this case, that the defendants are bound to show that McKee ever had, in fact, an interest in any survey of 2,000 acres beside the one in litigation. The answer puts the complainants on their proof, and it is from them than the evidence is to proceed upon which our decision is to be founded. ”

“ And here it is obvious, that he is to be regarded either as an officer of that Government, or as its private agent. In the one capacity or the other, his conduct can only be controlled by the power that created him; since, whatever doubts have from time to time been suggested, as to the supremacy of the United States, in its legislative, judicial, or executive powers, no one has ever contested its supreme right to dispose of its own property in its own way. ”

“ The point when properly stated stands thus: the plaintiff lays the breach by fire, and the defendant, to repel his liability, insists that the fire was produced by negligence of the master; the plaintiff replies that negligence is no defence where the barratry is insured against; the court maintains the doctrine of the plaintiff, and adds, that negligence itself, when gross, is evidence of barratry. And certainly a master of a vessel who sees another engaged in the act of scuttling or firing his ship, and will not rise from his birth to prevent it, is prima facie chargeable with barratry. ”

“ Not so with the crime of murder. It is an offence too abhorrent to the feelings of man, to have made it necessary that it also should have been brought within this universal jurisdiction. And hence, punishing it when committed within the jurisdiction, or, (what is the same thing,) in the vessel of another nation, has not been acknowledged as a right, much less an obligation. It is punishable under the laws of each State, and I am inclined to think that an acquittal in this case would not have been a good plea in a Court of Great Britain. ”

“ The circumstances that the husband of Mrs Evans gives a general warranty in the deed to Potter, by no means argues a denial of the plaintiff's right, but rather affirms it; as it supposes a possibility of a superior right to at least a part of the estate in the land. It is at furthest, in effect, no more than a covenant for quiet possession; while it imports a guaranty that the deed will legally operate to convey the plaintiff's interest, and thus again recognizes a title in her at the date of the deed. But a warranty cannot enlarge an estate. ”

“ A trust estate was liable to execution and attachment long before. Why should not an equity of redemption be equally liable? The act expressly makes credits, liable to attachment, which was as contrary to the course of the common law as to subject equitable interests in land to condemnation.
Lord Mansfield, in a case in Douglass's reports (Doug. 610,) says, it is an affront to common sense to say that the mortgagor is not the real owner. The equity of redemption is the substantial ownership in the view of all the world. ”

“ A state of war, want of inhabitants, indispensable talents, transfer of knowledge and wealth to a rival, and various other grounds, are assigned by writers on public law, upon which a nation may lawfully and reasonably limit and restrict the exercise of individual volition in emigrating or putting off our allegiance. All this shows, that whenever an individual proposes to remove, a question of right or obligation arises between himself and the community, which must be decided on in some mode. ”