Roger B. Taney

“ And as there is no clause of limitation applying to the whole act, nor as to the time within which this court shall exercise the appellate power conferred on it, the act of 1824, in this respect, is a perpetual one; and if any appeal were at this day depending, which had been regularly brought up from the state of Missouri or the territory of Arkansas, the court would have jurisdiction to hear and decide it. ”

“ But it is insisted that it is otherwise when taken in connection with the act of 1844, which re enacted it for the states therein mentioned, in one of which this case has arisen. And it is contended that the duration of the whole act of 1824, as thus re enacted, including the appellate jurisdiction of this court, is restricted to five years from the enactment of the law.
This construction cannot be maintained. In expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy. ”