On the record
It then became his sworn constitutional duty to scrutinize severely every act of congress, and to condemn, as unconstitutional, all that should violate any of these natural rights.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “It then became his sworn constitutional duty to scrutinize severely every act of congress, and to condemn, as…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner asserts that it was Marshall's duty as Chief Justice to uphold the Constitution and protect natural rights.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.
It was a principle of the Common Law, as it is of the law of nature, and of common sense, that no man can be taxed without his personal consent.
Since Magna Carta, we have evidence showing quite conclusively that all freemen, above the age of twenty-one years, were eligible as jurors.