John McLean

“ If the legislature of a State should pass an act by which a past right of action shall be barred, and without any allowance of time for the institution of a suit in future, it would be difficult to reconcile such an act with the express constitutional provisions in favor of the rights of private property.' It must be admitted that the legislature could not bar a claim, to which there was no bar; but no one can doubt that a statute may bar claims where the right of action existed, and a reasonable part of the whole time of the statute has to run. ”

“ The plaintiff, though not a resident of the State, might have sued so soon as the right of action accrued.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105) . ”