One Great Error Is That We Suppose

The Interpretation Of The Laws Is The Proper And Peculiar Province Of The Courts. A Constitution Is, In Fact, And Must Be Regarded By The Judges, As Fundamental Law. It Therefore Belongs To Them To Ascertain Its Meaning, As Well As The Meaning Of Any Particular Act Proceeding From The Legislative Body. If There Should Happen To Be An Irreconcilable Variance Between The Two, That Which Has The Superior Obligation And Validity Ought, Of Course, To Be Preferred; Or, In Other Words, The Constitution Ought To Be Preferred To The Statute, The Intention Of The People To The Intention Of Their Agents.

[h]owever Weak Our Country May Be, I Hope We Shall Never Sacrifice Our Liberties.

The Idea Of Governing At All Times By The Simple Force Of Law (which We Have Been Told Is The Only Admissible Principle Of Republican Government) Has No Place But In The Reveries Of Those Political Doctors Whose Sagacity Disdains The Admonitions Of Experimental Instruction.

If There Are Such Things As Political Axioms, The Propriety Of The Judicial Power Of A Government Being Co-extensive With Its Legislative, May Be Ranked Among The Number.

Government Is Frequently And Aptly Classed Under Two Descriptions-a Government Of Force, And A Government Of Laws; The First Is The Definition Of Despotism-the Last, Of Liberty.