The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-09-05
State sovereignty, and adopting efficient nation
al Government than these abuses of power by

State sovereignty, and adopting an efficient nation
al Government than these abuses of power by
the State Legislatures"
In q similar strain MIR. Justice Colcock speaks
in Alexander Us. Gibson, N. and McC, Rep 1856
"a. D. 181e: "In giving construction to this part
of the CONSTITUTION it is necessary to take a view
Of the of things which existed 1T the time Of
is adoption and Of the particular Acts which had
heen he nassed by many OF the States during the
struggle for our Independence From the diff
culties which had arisen during the war 1t was
fmnd-to be impossible for debtors to satisfy the
demands of their creditors The value OF proper
ty was diminished. There was little clfcuiatng Il
medium in tho country. And hence had orlgna,,s
tod tpine barren Acts, sinstalment laws and
other Acts OF similar character 1mpalrlng tne
obligation of contracts and thereby destroying
credit. Many OF these laws we're thcn ID opera. =,
ton, and to guard against the contlhuanWce ~ .l VI
them wa the AyoWed OBJECT OF thls cAauso IL 0oo
Constitution"
Such was the contemporaneOus testlmony-sucn
has been tile uniform tradition of the country
Laws OF the character of those under consloera-
ton we're precisely those against Whlcn the
prohibition of the Constitution was directed.
Perhaps our forefathcrs mscarrled IN Judgment
and Luther Martin was right. But ne failed TO
convince his constituents The people OF the
several States acted with their eyes open Ihey
set one thing over another, and the counsels OF
General Dayie and Mr. Madison aud Mr.. Plnck.
new. prevailed over the counsels OF Mr. Martin and
other distinguished patriots. They ratified the
prohibition the Constitution. They thus volun-
tarily submitted to this self-restralnt ana deter
mined to protect their representatives III the State
Legislature from the perils OF temptation. IL
there has been any authoritative adjudication,
since the adoption OF the Constitution, SUSTAINING
the validity OF "Instement Laws or "Stay Laws,
it escaped the research of the learned counsel
who argued this cause, and has not been brought
to the notice of the Court.
Tn Lindsay vs Commissioners, 2 Bay GlS Judge
Waties uses this languages: "lt was palnfulto him
to be obliged to question the exercise OF any
Legislative power.' In exercising this nigh autho-
rity, the judges claim no Judicial supremacy; they
are only the administrators Of the public will. II
an Act of tile Legislature is hello void, it is not
hacanse the Judges have any control over the le-
pislatiye power, but because the Act is forbidden
by the Constitution, and because the will OF the
people, which is therein declared, is paramount to
that OF their representatives expressed in any
law. AS the Act under consideration was repug-
nant to this high will he was bound to say that it
ought not to have any operation
In the Judgment Of this Court, the provisions
of the Acts Of 1861 and 1865, which intcrdict the
service OF mesne process, or the enforcement Of
final process are at variance with the Article OF
the Constitution ofthe United States which prohib
itsta State from passing any law mpairing the
obligation of contracts, and such provisions are,
consequently, imperative aud void.
We concur: BENZ. F. DUNKIN.
D. Z. WARDLAW.
THOMAS W. GLOVER.
R. MUNRO.
j. P. CARROLL.
F. ]. MOSES.
JOHN A. INGLIS.
r. N. DAWKINs.
q. D. LEBEsNE
W.D. JOHNSON.