Stephen Johnson Field

“ I know of no law that was ever enacted in the United States, which would justify a military officer in enforcing the payment to him of a debt due from one loyal citizen to another loyal citizen, neither being in the military service, or residing in a state declared to be in insurrection, or in which the courts of law were not open and in the peaceful exercise of their jurisdiction. ”

“ The right of a lessor to sue his lessees for breach of contract is in no way dependent upon any act or authority of congress. It is a matter purely of state concern, and congress can no more declare within what time he shall sue for his rent than it can prescribe the court in which the action shall be brought, or the form of the proceedings by which it shall be conducted. Its power to fix a limitation to actions can apply only to such as are in the first instance brought in the courts of the United States, and to those wherein the right or interest claimed depends upon a law of congress. ”

“ Congress may provide for indemnifying those who, in great emergencies, acting under pressing necessities for the public, in vade private rights in support of the authority of the government; but between acts of indemnity in such cases and the attempt to deprive the citizen of his right to compensation for wrongs committed against him or his property, or to enforce contract obligations, there is a wide difference, which cannot be disregarded without a plain violation of the constitution. ”