by John Marshall Harlan

“ A state, without its consent, cannot be sued by an individual; and a court cannot substitute its own discretion for that of executive officers in matters belonging to the proper jurisdiction of the latter. But it has been well settled that when a plain official duty, requiring no exercise of discretion, is to be performed, and performance is refused, any person who will sustain personal injury by such refusal may have a mandamus to compel its performance ”

“ Each provision of the act is declared to be a contract between the state and each holder of bonds; it is made a misdemeanor for any judge, tax-collector, or other officer to abstruct the execution of any part of it, or to fail to perform his official duty; tax-collectors are inhibited from paying over moneys so collected to any other person than the state treasurer; and it is provided that no court or judge of the state shall have power to enjoin the payment of the principal or interest of the bonds or the collection of the special tax therefor. ”

“ A state-which 'cannot be viewed as a single, unconnected, sovereign power,' but is a member of the Union under a constitution, the supremacy of which all must acknowledge-assumes to release its officers from the duty of obeying important provisions of that constitution; and this court, it would seem, holds that it has no power, as against such hostile action of the state, and in cases like these, to require those officers to respect private rights guarantied by such provisions.
1. What are the terms of the admitted contract between Louisiana and the holders of the consolidated bonds? ”

“ Amy the want of power in a circuit court to issue the writ, in the first instance, and in advance of a judgment establishing the rights of the parties, was put distinctly upon the ground that the whole judicial power of the United States had not been delegated to the circuit courts. ”

“ If the case cited from the queen's bench were susceptible of a different construction, it should not have controlling influence. Here no such relations exist between the executive and judicial departments as exist in England between the crown and the courts. ”