The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-02-11

nlJlled, anu Is really calculated 10 eHeCL any VI
the objects intr,lsted TO the government, to
its necessity would be to pass the line which
clrcumscribes the judicial department and
tread on legislative ground" (Ibid. 423.)
The power to establish standard OF money,
as of weights and measures, is unquestionabiy
Incidental to governments; but the power to
change the legal tender is clearly not the same
as the power to coin money. Nor is it the
same as the power to issue bills of credit,
which Congress has been held by this court to
possess. They are issued on the credit Of the
United States, and may be issued eifcctually
without making them a legal tender. The DIFF
ference in power Is shown by the TACT that
even the States may authorize banks Of issue,
but cannot make their notes legal tender.
It is urged that the Legal-Tender act Is au-
thoriZed as Incidental to the war power, by
the constitution, when IL grants all powers ne
cessary and proper to carry its general powers
into execution. But how is the right to make
new lcgal-tendcr necessary and proper to
that Of carrying on war? Such an argument
proves too much; for every other power of
Congress involves the use oil money, and the
power to issue lcgal-tenders might rs reasona-
bly, be derived from that OF opening post roads
or building postoilices, as from the war power.
Nor can it be said that this Is question solely
for Congress. and not for the courts, without
saying that Congress has exclusive jurisdiction
to define its own powers.
The court then reviewed the history of the
paper currency; and said mo one questions
the general constitutionality, and not very
many, perhaps, the general eXpediency, OF the
legislation by which q note currency has been
authorized in recent years. The doubt is as to
the power to declare a particular class Of these
notes TO be q lcgal-tcnder In payment ofpre-
existing debts. The only ground upon which
this power is asserted Is not that the Issue OF
notes was an appropriate and plainly adapted
means for carrying on the war, for that Is ad-
mitted; but that the making OF thom legal
tender to the extent mentioned was such
means Now, we have seen that of all the
notes issued, those not declared legal tender at
all constituted very large proportion, anu
that they circulated freely and without dis
count. It may be said that their equality In
circulation and credit was due to the provls-
ion made by law for the redemption OF this
paper in legal-tendcr notes, but this provision,
if at all useful in this respect, was oftrlfilng
Importance compared with that which made
them receivable for government dues" The
court cannot. therefore, 6elleve tnat tle ie-
gal-tender claim Is justified by the power to de-
clare and maintain war, as an appropriate and
plainly adapted means of enforcing this power.
Besides, the constitution Is ordained to es-
tablSh Justice. The famous ordinance for the
government of the Northwest Territory has
this passage:
sand In the just preservation OF rights and
property 1t is understood and declared that no
law ought ever to be made, or 10 have force In
the said territory, that shall In any manner
whatever Interfere with or affect private con-
tracts or engagements, bona fde, and without
fraud, previously formed" The same princi-
ple found moro condensed expression In that
most valuable provision of the Constitution OF
the United States, ever recognized as an ell
cient safeguard against Intrigue, that no State
shall pass any low impairng the obligation OF
contracts. 1t is true that this prohibition Is
not applied In terms to the government oil the
United States.
But the prohibition, in Its spirit, was clearly
| designed to cover the whole body of legisla-
| tiun i'm the nation. An act made In violation
1t, without any express grant of power, can
not be maintained.
again, the Filth amendment advises that
private property cannot be taken Tor public
use without compensation; and that no person
without process of law. This applies to the
general government, and is clearly inconsis'
tent with mukins new legal-tcndcr tor ex-
listing debts. The injury done to the holders
of such contracts is direct and inevitable.
s'No one probably could be found to con,
tend that an act enforcing the acceptance ol
fifty or seventy-fve acres Of land in satisiac.
tion of contract to convey hundred, Wouo
not come within the prohibition against arbi-
trary privatlon Of property. We confess our
selves unable to perceive any solid distinction
between such an act and an oct compelling
all citizens to accept in satisfaction OF all con-
| tracts for money half or threc-quarters OF any
other proportion less than the whole OF the
value actually due according to their terms. II
Is difficult to conceive what act would take
private property without process Of law, Il
| such act would not"
Judgment was, therefore, given, affirming
the decision of the Kentucky Court Of Ap
peas: 'sThat the defendant In error was moi
bound to receive from the plaintiffs the cur
rency rendered to him in payment Of theil
note made before the passage Of the act o
February Is, 1897