Brehon law

“ There have been many cases in which a distinction has been drawn between the taking of property for public uses and a consequential injury to such property, by reason of some public work. In the one class the law implies a contract, a promise to pay for the property taken, which, if the taking was by the general government, will uphold an action in the court of claims; while in the other class there is simply a tortious act doing injury, over which the court of claims has no jurisdiction. ”

“ That is true; but it does not alter the application of the principle of law. If Mrs Brewerton had been possessed of a reversion by descent from Robert R. Randall, and she had died before the life estate fell in, it would not have gone to her heirs, but to his. And yet there is no doubt that she might grant such a reversion, or devise it, and it would pass by her will to the devisee and thus interrupt the descent. So, if Mrs Brewerton had a right of entry in the premises, and she could devise it, it is of no consequence that it would not, if undevised, have passed to her heirs ”

“ It has been wisely and aptly said that this is a government of laws, and not of men; that there is no arbitrary power located in any individual or body of individuals; but that all in authority are guided and limited by those provisions which the people have, through the organic law, declared shall be the measure and scope of all control exercised over them. ”

“ That forbids a state to 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.' And the proposition is that the denial of a right to be heard before judgment simply as to the sufficiency of the service operates to deprive the defendant of liberty or property. But the mere entry of a judgment for money, which is void for want of proper service, touches neither. It is only when process is issued thereon, or the judgment is sought to be enforced, that liberty or property is in present danger. ”

“ Legislation, in a great variety of ways, may affect commerce and persons engaged in it, without constituting a regulation of it, within the meaning of the constitution.' It was accordingly held in that case that an action against a carrier engaged in interstate commerce might be maintained under a state statute giving a civil remedy, unknown to the common law, for negligence causing death ”

“ Louisiana, the court quoted approvingly the following passage from the opinion in Hans v. Louisiana:
'It seems to us that these views of those great advocates and defenders of the Constitution were most sensible and just; and they applied equally to the present case as to that then under discussion. The letter is appealed to now, as it was then, as a ground for sustaining a suit brought by an individual against a state. The reason against it is as strong in this case as it was in that. It is an attempt to strain the Constitution and the law to a construction never imagined or dreamed of. ”

“ Undoubtedly it would be much more satisfactory to a court of equity had the law provided that the preferences and not the assignment should be void. The fact that the penalty imposed by the legislature was a harsh one, and operated unjustly upon the right of others, seems to have been something of an obstacle in the way in determining Ott's intent.' But if we apply the letter alone of the statute, then he has no cause of complaint; for the assignment, standing by itself, is without preferences, and only an assignment with preferences is denounced. ”

“ It is true that, in such instances, the legislature has power to change the substantive law of crimes, and it has been thought that when it is said to create a conclusive presumption as to a really disputable fact, the proper mode of stating what it does, at least, as a general rule, is to say that it has changed the substantive law. ”

“ Suppose a law were passed that if any laboring man should bring or defend an action and fail in his claim or defense, either in whole or in part, he should in the one instance forfeit to the defendant half of the amount of his claim, and in the other be punished by a fine equal to half of the recovery against him, and that such law by its terms applied only to laboring men, would there be the slightest hesitation in holding that the laborer was denied the equal protection of the laws? ”

“ It is the settled law of this court that to give it jurisdiction of a writ of error to a state court it must appear affirmatively, not only that a rederal question was presented to that court for decision, but also that the decision of the question was necessary to the determination of the cause, and that it was actually decided adversely to the party claiming a right under the federal laws or constitution, or that the judgment, as rendered, could not have been given without such decision. ”

“ The public has an interest in his life and liberty. Neither can be lawfully taken except in the mode prescribed by law. That which the law makes essential in proceedings involving the deprivation of life or liberty cannot be dispensed with or affected by the consent of the accused, much less by his mere failure, when on trial and in custody, to object to unauthorized methods.' 4 Bl. ”

“ It certainly is more convenient that a defendant be permitted to object to the service, and raise the question of jurisdiction, in the first instance, in the court in which suit is pending. But mere convenience is not substance of right. If the defendant had taken no notice of this suit, and judgment had been formally entered upon such insufficient service, and under process thereon his property, real or personal, had been seized or threatened with seizure, he could by original action have enjoined the process, and protected the possession of his property. ”

“ The law deals tenderly with one who, in good faith, goes upon the public lands, with a view of making a home thereon. If he does all that the statute prescribes as the condition of acquiring rights, the law protects him in those rights, and does not make their continued existence depend alone upon the question whether or no he takes an appeal from an adverse decision of the officers charged with the duty of acting upon his application. ”

“ This rule proceeds and rests upon the principle that there is 'no rule of law which prevents a party from performing a promise which could not be legally enforced, or which will permit a party morally but not legally bound to do a certain act or thing, upon the act or thing being done, to recall it to the prejudice of the promisee, on the plea that the promise, while still executory, could not, by reason of some technical rule of law, have been enforced by action.' Newman v. ”

“ While it may be true that when one part of a statute is valid and constitutional, and another part is unconstitutional and void, the court may enforce the valid part where they are distinctly separable, so that each can stand alone, it is not within the judicial province to give to the words used by Congress a narrower meaning than they are manifestly intended to bear in order that crimes may be punished which are not described in language that brings them within the constitutional power of that body. ”

“ The government, therefore, if seeking simply to protect the right of an individual, ought not to be permitted to maintain a suit in equity to cancel that against which the individual has a perfect legal defense available in any action brought by or against him. The query is pressed whether the same rule would not also apply when the government is only seeking to protect the public at large, for the public is but the aggregation of all the individuals, and, if each of them has a perfect defense to the patent, so all together have. ”

“ The administration of justice was an hereditary trust, committed to certain judicial families, who held their lands, as the Monks did, by virtue of their profession. When the posterity of the Brehon, or Judge failed, it was permitted to adopt from the class of students, a male representative, in whom the judicial authority was perpetuated: the families of O'Gnive and O'Clery in the North, of O'Daly in Meath, O'Doran in Leinster, McEgan in Munster, Mulconry or Conroy in Connaught, were the most distinguished Brehon houses. ”

“ If the testator attempts to effect that which the law forbids, his will must yield to the rules of law. But courts have sometimes gone farther. The construction put upon words in one will has been supposed to furnish a rule for construing the same words in other wills; and thereby to furnish some settled and fixed rules of construction which ought to be respected. We cannot say that this principle ought to be totally disregarded; but it should never be carried so far as to defeat the plain intent, if that intent may be carried into execution without violating the rules of law. ”

“ There it was enacted in 1876 (Laws N. M. 1876, p. 31, c. 2, § 2) that 'in all the courts in this territory the common law as recognized in the United States of America shall be the rule of practice and decision.' Browning v. ”

“ The distinction is perfectly obvious, and has always been regarded by the Courts, as covering a vital part of our Liberty. Broom thus clearly states: "A remedial statute, therefore, shall be liberally construed so as to include cases which are within the mischief which the statute was intended to remedy, whilst, on the other hand, where the intention of the Legislature is doubtful, the inclination of the Court will always be against that construction which imposes a burden, tax or duty on the subject. ”

“ In the main, we do not doubt these propositions of law; but there are certain equitable considerations which the department is authorized to recognize, and, when recognized, no court will ever disturb its action. Consider the facts in this light: Williams had made a desert-land entry. His proposition by that entry was to reclaim this land by irrigation. He conveyed by deed a portion of it to the Philadelphia Company, warranting that he had perfect title and right to convey, and receiving $5,000 for this conveyance. On the faith of it, the company expends $58,000 in improvements. ”

“ Good faith and early assertion of rights are as essential on the part of the defendant as of the complainant. This matter has recently been before this court in Reynes v. Dumont, 130 U.S. 354, 395, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 486, and was carefully considered, and the rule, with its limitations, thus stated: 'The rule as stated in 1 Daniell's Chancery Practice, (4th Amer. Ed.) 555, is that if the objection of want of jurisdiction in equity is not taken in proper time, namely, before the defendant enters into his defense at large, the court, having the general jurisdiction, will exercise it ”

“ Rep. 174, 181, in which this court said:
'As one section of a statute may be repugnant to the Constitution without rendering the whole act void, so one provision of a section may be invalid by reason of its not conforming to the Constitution, while all the other provisions may be subject to not constitutional infirmity. One part may stand, while another will fall, unless the two are so connected or dependent on each other in subject-matter, meaning, or purpose, that the good cannot remain without the bad. ”

“ Doubtless the court has power, when a separate action is instituted against one, to require that the other party be brought into the suit, if it appears necessary to prevent wrong and injury to either party and to thus fully determine the title in one action; but such right does not oust the court of jurisdiction of the separate action against either. It has jurisdiction of separate actions against each of the adverse holders; and there is no legal compulsion, as a matter of jurisdictional necessity, to the joinder of both parties as defendants in one action. ”

“ We are asked to enforce a statute of a state penal in its character, so far, at least, as the trustee is concerned, and therefore to be strictly construed, in a case in which its highest court rules that it ought not to be enforced. To the question as thus stated it would seem that there should be but one answer, and that the rulings of the highest court of a state as to liability under such a statute ought to be recognized in every court as at least most persuasive. ”

“ On the other hand, it is also true that the equal protection guarantied by the constitution forbids the legislature to select a person, natural or artificial, and impose upon him or it burdens and liabilities which are not cast upon others similarly situated. It cannot pick out one individual, or one corporation, and enact that whenever he or it is sued the judgment shall be for double damages, or subject to an attorney's fee in favor of the plaintiff, when no other individual or corporation is subjected to the same rule. ”

“ It is not an uncommon thing in any state for questions to arise making it desirable or perhaps necessary for further general legislation to enable persons interested to carry out desired and desirable measures. The fact that such further general statute is passed to aid a particular person for the time being does not make the act a special, as distinguished from a general, one. Whether an act, general in form, is a mere device to evade a wholesome constitutional provision, is largely dependent upon the special circumstances of each case. ”