Stephen Johnson Field

“ The provision found in the fifth amendment to the federal constitution, and in the constitutions of the several states, for just compensation for the property taken, is merely a limitation upon the use of the power. It is no part of the power itself, but a condition upon which the power may be exercised. ”

“ That the power vested in the federal government to take private property for the public uses of the United States is, in its nature, exclusive, and its exercise by any state is therefore prohibited as completely as though the prohibition were expressed in terms; that the power cannot, therefore, be delegated to the state of Wisconsin; that the ascertainment of the compensation is involved in the exercise of the power as a necesary part of it, inasmuch as there can be no lawful taking until compensation is made ”

“ The use of the courts of the states in applying the rules of naturalization prescribed by congress, the exercise at one time by state justices of the peace of the power of committing magistrates for violations of federal law, and the use of state penitentiaries for the confinement of convicts under such laws, are instances of the employment of state tribunals and state institutions in the execution of powers of the general government. ”