Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-02-09
tF,3For the Moiss County Telegraph.
Slavery UncOnslIIutlOnaI and H.
.Hs legal.


a few weeks since of my address, deliv- Z
cred at the Meigs County Court House,
on the above topic, to which you per-,
sonally listened, yet as you deem it
too lengthy to be published in the
Telegraph, allow me to cite to your read
ers several witnesses, not SO much to
substantiate my Interpretation of the Con-
stitution, and of our political duty under it,
as that could be better judged of by those
who heard the address, but rather to show
that the law of right and JUSTICE is to be
held by all Courts and all Legislatures to
be above and paramount to all written
constitutions, enactments, or precedents,
and that it has been so held by the great
est jurists and legislators in every land
and every age. w. B. ORvIs.
That which is altogether Just shalt thou
follow. Ye shall do no unrg gh e business in
Judgment. Ye shall judge with Just iudg-
Ineht' Ihou shalt Justify the righteous ond
condemn the ed."-Moses, the lawgiver
of Israel. e'0
Execute judgment and Justice between
man and his neighbor Execute judgment in
the morning and deliver the spoiled out OF
lhe hand OF the ppressor."-Jeremiah.
- ustlce is the very foundation of lawful
government. Those who made uniustidabIe
and pernicious enactments established ony
thing rather than laws. The very sienifca- |
ton OF the word law comprehends the energy
ana essence OF justice aud equity. Ii laws
coulu be created by ordinances OF the people |
the cecrees OF princes, or the sentences of
Judges. robbery might be lawful, adultery
might be ful, setting up forged wills might |
be lawful were these approved by the votes
or ordinances of the multitude. II there be |
Such a pewer IN the decreeS or commands of |
ioo!s mat the nature Of things is changed by !
their votes, why do they not decree that what
Is oaa ana pernicious shall be good and whole
some; and II law can make wrong right, can
II not make bad goodp'-Cicero, a Heathen
Thou shalt love the Lord thy G cd with |
all tiny heart; thou shalt love thy neighbor as
myself on these two commandments hangs
ALL TIE LAW and the prophets. Love work
eth no III to his neghbor; therefore love is
the iulhlIlng OF the LAw.''-Christ and Paul
Ihe preceptS of the law are to live hon
estly, TO hurt no one, ana to give to every
one his due."-J ustiniam.
1.-The legislative power is limited by, and
subordinate to, natural justice. e.'-Loft sEle-
mentS of Am. Law.
"Justicc is the basis of all society; justice
is the end OF government and of all civil So
y."-Vattcl.
The essence of law is justice; what is
not just is not law" ampden.
"Ihe reasonableness Of law is the soul of |
law" ."-NoyeS.
"Politcal law is the authority of any So
ciety stamped upon moral duty."-W lher-
spoon.
Statutes against fundamental morality are
void d."-McLean.
"To establish justice lies at the very foun-
datlon OF all institutions" ."--Story.
claw itself is only beneficence, acting by
RUE. Men have right 10 do iuStlce--to
lprotecO their offspring, to ms tructon in
life. All Lave equal rights. The whole body
OF The community have no rights incon.
sIstent with virtue."-Burke.
"Of Chief Justice Hale, it is said He
looked upon equity as part of the common
law, and would never suffer the niceties and l
subtleties of law to protect injustice, but
would compel all the nicelies and sub1eties
(and precedents, we presume.) OF law 10 sup
port equality and right. "-Checver.
"W hat the Parialuent doth Shall be holden
;of nought, whenever it shall enact that
which IS contrary to the rights of nature. -
Lord Coke.
"In judging of customs, (statutes.) strength
of reason is to be considered: not length of l.
time. 1t is generally laid down that acts o + II
Parliament contrary to reason, are yoid.'-- II
Lord Lyttleton.
Now hear Blackstone, the great oracle
of law:
':This law of nature being coeyal with
and dictated by God himself IS of
1t is binding over all the globe, in all coun- :
tres, and at all times; no human laws are 4
OF any validity, if contrary to this; and such C
OF them as are valid, derive all their force
and all their authority mediately or immed- 5
ately, from this original. B lackstone, VOL c
/, p. a..
"Fhose human laws that annex q punish q
ment to murder, do not at all increase its v
moral guilt, or Superadd any fresh Obligation r
in the forum Of conscience to abstain from =
It's perpetration. Nay. if any human law c
should allow or enioin us to commit it. we ,
are bound to tranSgreSS that human law, or
else we must offend both the natural and the
divine. e."--Blackstone Vol. /. p. 42, 43.
''Those rights then which God and nature
have established, and are therefore called
natural rights, such as are life and liberty,
need not the aid OF human laws to be more
etectually invested i'll every man than they
are; neither do they receive any additional
strength when declared by the municipal laws
10 be lnyiolabie. On the contrary, no human
eegiSlation has power to abridge or destroy 4
hem, unless the owner hall himself commit t
some act that amounts to a forfeiture - i
Blackstone, Vol. /, p. 81.
Hear others: f
'The law of Natnre is antecedent and
para mount to all human governments Il
Every individual Of the human race comes o
nto the world with rights, which, if the whole c
ggregate of human power were concentra D
ed In one arm, it could not take away. r
The Declaration of lndepe ndence recognizes o
40 despotlsm, mon0rchal, aristocratic or 81
democratic. 1t declares that individual man b
S possessed f rights of which no govern n
nent can deprive him."-John Q. Adams. b
"Those who made pernicious and unjust
iecrecs have made anything rather than laws :.
ustice is the foundation OF all laws, as law
m ba
rary to the law OF God, of Nature, or reason, 9
t ought TO be looked at as null and void - Ia
Milton.
zone who ruleth over man must be Just, l
uling in the feal of God. samuel
"Ihe wicked shall not tarry in my sight."--
David.
The Government that attempts to legalize
wrong instead OF instituting law, make itself ?