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presence of a Federal judge is sufficient to compel obedience to Federal law.

5. The Constitutions of the several States, although open to revision under certain conditions by the people of the State, may be regarded as additional limitations of the Home Rule Governments. In the case of the newer States, they are the constitutional compacts under which those States have been admitted to the Union, and they sometimes contain provisions declared to be unalterable except with the assent of Congress. The amendment of those Constitutions is generally a matter of considerable difficulty, and even solemnity. They are all framed very much on the same model, and together embody the matured opinions of the whole country as to what State Governments should or should not be permitted to do. It would be taking an entirely false view of the American system to overlook the restrictions thus placed upon the Home Rule Governments, although these restrictions are not imposed ab extra, and may be taken away by the people themselves.

The Federal limitations of State power, the State's limitations of its own Government, and the action of the Federal courts will bear to be examined in some detail.

FEDERAL LIMITATIONS.-There are three ways in which the Federal Constitution limits the powers of State Legislatures.

1. Certain enumerated subjects are by that Constitution assigned to Congress, and being so assigned,

cannot be dealt with by the State Legislatures if Congress chooses to exercise its powers.

2. The power of making treaties with foreign nations is, by the Federal Constitution, conferred upon the President, acting by and with the consent of the Senate. Any treaty so made becomes, like the legislation of Congress, part of the supreme law of the land, and State legislation inconsistent therewith is void.

3. The Federal Constitution enumerates certain things which State Legislatures are forbidden to do. These are contained in Art. 1, sec. 10:

"I. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.

"2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for exécuting its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage; keep troops or ships of war in time of peace; enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power; or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay."

The amendments to the Constitution contain other restrictions, of which the following only need be cited:—

Art. 14.-1. All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

2. The validity of the public debt of the United States authorised by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection and rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, or claims shall be held illegal or void.

On the other hand, Article 10 of the Amendments says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively and to the people."

"It is," says Mr. Cooley, "a settled rule of construction that the limitations it (the Constitution) imposes upon the powers of Government are in all cases to be understood as limitations upon the Government of the Union only, except when the States are expressly mentioned. As illustrations, the sixth and seventh amendments to the Constitution may be mentioned. These constitute a guarantee of the right of trial by jury; but as they do not mention the States, they are not to be understood as restricting their powers; and

the States may, if they choose, provide for the trial of all offences against the States, as well as for the trial of civil causes in the State courts, without the intervention of a jury, or by some different jury to that known to the common law."

These restrictions are expressed, it will be seen, in concise general terms, which in some instances contrast with the prolific development of principles in the courts.

The Federal Constitution does not expressly restrict the Legislatures of the State. It deals with the States as units, and its prohibitions consequently apply to every form of State power. They affect not only State enactments, but State Constitutions and State courts. The power inherent in the people of a State of amending their Constitution is subject, among other conditions, to this, that it must contain no provision which would amount to an exercise of the powers expressly or impliedly prohibited to the States by the Constitution of the Union. It would be the duty of all courts, both State and National, to declare such provisions void, whether enacted by the people directly, in their primary capacity as makers of the fundamental law, or in the form of statutes, through the delegated power of their Legislature.*

The same considerations apply to the manifestation of State power through its tribunals. Means are provided for appealing to the Supreme Court at Washington from a decision of the highest court of a State, against the validity of a treaty or statute of the

* Cooley's "Constitutional Limitations," p. 42.

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United States. The Constitution of the United States is, of course, the supreme law of the land, declared (Article 6) to be binding on the judges of the State courts; but the principle appears to be carried still farther. The construction of a State statute or Constitution by the highest State court is conclusive; and if the Federal courts should previously have construed the statute differently, they will, in any new case, abandon their own construction and adopt that of the State court. But when, under a settled construction of a State statute, contracts have been entered into, they will be protected by the Federal courts from a subsequent contrary construction of the statute by the State courts. The settled construction of a statute is held to be, like the statute itself, part of the obligation of a contract made with reference to it.

A treaty duly made and ratified becomes, like a Federal statute, part of the supreme law of the land, and State legislation in violation of it is null and void. A subsequent law of Congress repugnant to a treaty to that extent abrogates it. Questions as to the effect of treaties on State laws have arisen in a large number of

cases.

With reference to the restrictions on the State Legislatures by the express grant of powers to Congress, it may be repeated that it is in general the exercise of the power of Congress, and not the mere grant of the power to Congress, which excludes the States. "The full sphere of Federal power may, at the discretion of Congress, be occupied or not, as the

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