Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-05-09

IL has become favorite dogma OF DE
moeracy that "oitiEens Of tho United Stats
have the right 10 take slaves into the Ter
ritories," or as some expounder- nov nc
curately, In terms, express The doct rinI
"citiSeps have the right 10 take slaves int
the Territories, aud TO hold them there ~
slaves. by Virtue ol the common lae"
propose to examine this question aa .
legal one, and 6fst, thai clearness may b'
given To the starting poin, Of inquiry. leI
us find some clear and Hueeinct defination
of the broad term "oommen law"
know of no better deHaalion of n thar
that given by Blaokstons--that the coin
mon Law consists Of those customs which
have the fore, Of laws by long and lmmci
mortal usage, The goodness Of Gus.
ton" says Blackstone, depends upon iis
having been used, time oai of mind. OF, ~
the solemuiiy of eur legal phrase, time
whereof the memory 0l mao runbelh not
10 The contrary And again. "1he only
method ofrreyIng that this or that maxim
IL q rule OF the common law ls by showing
that u had always been the custom 10 obs
serve H."
Nor IL immemorIa usage The only fequl'
sile that a question shoald be considered
part al the common Law The custom
must bavs bsen continued wllhoul inief'
fupllon II must have been psssssbis and
aequIeseed In--not subject 10 contention
and dispoie, u tmust have been reasonable,
"A the United States with 40 inmate
rial exception, have derived the great body
~ those general customs, which are 70
eeIyed ~ common Law from England, lst
us examine whether Euglish jnrists aud
commentators o6 the Eaglish common law
recognise slavey as a general custom, In
memorial In usage, continued psaeeable,
reasonable, gIvlag by iis own fierce as
common law, In the absence Of statutory
provisions, 20 citizens of that Kingdom The
legal aud positive right 10 hold men In
bondage as slaves,
The systsm ef vlllanaga existed In Eog
land for centuries, II was q system ~
slavery The power Of the lord over the
villain Was but little dI0ersnt from that
exercised by The master over the slave IN
the Southern States, ilat yillsnags wholly
disappeared In England one hundred aud
seventy five years ago, Therefore, even
admltting the systems of ylllanags and
slavery 10 be materially the same, no argu
meat can be drawn from the existence of
villaHge In favor Of the common law right
for slavery For when = custom ceases 10
be observed II ls 40 longer common law
To make custom n good one It's obser'
vance must have been time out Of mind
aud that observance must have been con,
tinurd without Interruption to the res
cut.
In l755 Blackstone, the greatest aud best
of English common law writers, delivered
this as maxim OF the English common
Law!
"Those ri Z hts then which God aud na
ture have established, and are therefors
called natural rights. such aa are life and
liberty, need not the aid OF human laws "a
be more effectually invested In every mai
than they are. neither do they acquire any
additional strength when declared by hu
mau laws to be inviolable. on the coDtra
ny no human Legislation has power Il
abridge or destroy them unless the owne
shall commit some act which amounts To
forfeiture" Backstones Commentaries
vol. I.ps4.
Aud this he declared 10 be the law o
England
This spirit Of liberty il so deeply i'm
planted in our constitution, aud rootet
even in our very soil. that a slave or ne
gro. the moment be lands 10 England, fall
under the protection Of our laws, and 81
far becomes freeman" Ibid vol ! f, pagl
l2S.
In i77i Lord Manshsld, Que OF England
noblest sons. pronounced the following de
cisiou in the celebrated Sommerset case :
James Somerset negro, was taken b.
his master from Virginia to England as
slave and then sued for his freedom :
Mansfield said
"The state Of slavery Is ofsuch a mature
that II is incapable Of being introduced o
any reasons. moral or political, but onl
by positive law, which preserves its fore
long after the reasons, occasion aud tim
, itself whence IL was created, is erased froI
the memory II is so odious that nothin
, can be sufficient TO support IL but positiy
law. Whatever ineonveniences, therefor,
may follow from the decision, cannot "a
this case is allowed or approved by Ii
law OF England, and therefore the blsc
, must be discharged"
Now we come TO American authorities.
!, Kent quotes the the opinion in Somme
!. sets case with approval. Judge Story,
a ease reported in l6 Peters Rep, paI
539, "Rigg vs.. Commonwealth OF Psns.,
uses the following language:
!, by the general law Of nations, ne N
!. ton is bound to recognize the state Of 81
4 very.
!. "The state Of slavery is deemed TO be
mere municipal regulation, founded upc
and limited TO the usages Of the territori
/. laws. This was fully recognized in S,r
merset's case"
Said Daniel Webster;
= ut will not be contended that this so
:. Of personal slavery exists by general la
1t exists only by local law. do nat mel
to deny the validity Of that local la
where 1t is established; but l say il is,
ter all, local law. IL is nothing more.
, And wherever that local law does not Q
tend, property in persons does not exist
" In yiev VI the illpslrious opinions,
!, conclude that. in the absence Of municip
!. regulations restricting liberty. all men I
free under the common law. wherever tt
=. Law is in force. And that slave taken
/; the will Of his master TO territory where
"a positive law for slavery exists, by that |
,s. becomes legally . freeman.
-----------.-eses<