Noah Haynes Swayne

“ The President is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the service of the United States, and it is made his duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. Congress is authorized to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into effect the granted powers. The measures to be taken in carrying on war and to suppress insurrection are not defined. ”

“ A severe and literal construction of the language employed might conduct us to the conclusion, as has been insisted in another case before us, [8] that this clause was intended to be made wholly prospective as to the period to be deducted, and that it has no application where the action was barred at the time of its passage. Such, we are satisfied, was not the intention of Congress. A case may be within the meaning of a statute and not within its letter, and within its letter and not within its meaning. The intention of the law-maker constitutes the law. ”

“ It is a rule of law that where a revising statute, or one enacted for another, omits provisions contained in the original act, the parts omitted cannot be kept in force by construction, but are annulled. [5]
Whether the 25th section of the original act is superseded by the second section of the amendatory act is a point not necessary in this case to be determined; for, conceding the negative, the question before us is within the omitted category, is presented by the record, and is the only one we are called upon to consider. ”

“ But enough is shown to develop clearly the action of the Supreme Court of the State, and the point we are called upon to review. There is no controversy as to the facts. Under the circumstances, a refusal on our part to exercise the jurisdiction invoked would involve a sacrifice of substance to form and unwarrantably defeat the ends of justice.
Our attention has been called to the second section of the act of Congress of February 5, 1867, amending the Judiciary Act of 1789. [2] That section is to a great extent a transcript of the 25th section of the prior act. ”

“ The decision of all such questions rests wholly in the discretion of those to whom the substantial powers involved are confided by the Constitution.
In the latter case the power is not limited to victories in the field and the dispersion of the insurgent forces. ”