Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-08-11

| - - sotshAS ia Jul WI.
brought face To face with the nltimat,
question: Can any kind Of writer
code or constitution be devised bv tn,
art OF man for the government of n,
infant state sufficiently elastic /,
ADAPT itself to it's over changing condi
lions. through formal amendments.
Pwithont' the expanding and adaptin;
power of jndgc-madc law Leavin:
ont OF view the first twelve amend
montS to olir.5 federal constitution
winch were nearly scontemporancou
win IL, and really n completion of II
but three remain whose adoption n
all the world knows, was the Outcom
of the Civil war. Nothing l.; more gel
orally admitted in tho politics of thi
country than the fact that any rcforr
Is practically hopeless that depend
upon the amendment. under norma
conditions, OF the constitution of tn
United States.
BY Giant Hand of Revolution.
Experience shows 1iat the non
dcro's machinery provided can onl,
be moved by the giant hand of revolt
| ton. Under such conditions, who en-
| doubt for Il moment that. the frdcr.
constitution. SO Justly regarded as TIL
/ most wonderful work ever struck of
lat given time by the brain and nm
pose man, would have been homeless
failure but for the expanding an
| adapting power Of jutlgc-nadc law pr
mulgatcd by that tribunal which I'm
no prototype in history. the Suprem.
Court of the United States? At tn
| outset neither tho nature nor the g.,
tent of its powers were mt all clcarl
! understood. AS late rs January
1901, John Jay, the first chief Justice
in declining a reappOintmcni. wrote T..
| President Adams: Il left the bonc
perfectly convinced that under a sy.
tom so defective it would not obtai
the energy, weight and dignity vic.
was essential To its afrnrding due SUI
! port To the national government: ne
acquire the public confidence and r.
Sncct which, rs the last resort of IT,
Justice Of tho nation. it should pnsses
Hence. am induced to doubt both tn
prnpriety and eXpcdicncv of my retur.
ing To the bench under the present sy:
tenn
Fortunately, for the cause of go1
government throughout the worl.
lays wall of dispair was buglc ca
to jllrist who has exercised n wild,
influence, perhaps, than any other i
ii' vi IllilkI1lu. VII inc ia
ior The first meeting Oi the Suprcm
Court In tho permanent capital of til
nation, John Marshall took his pia,
Tor the first time us chief Justice. an
as such. he sat in the midst of six n
sociatcs for thirty-four years.
Time Ripe for His Advent.
The time was ripe for the advcE
of = jurist and statesman clear RI:
.'oncd enough to sweep the entire hor
ION Of federal power. and enough |
press each clement of II to its ,ogica
conclusion. The success of his lii
work wns assured by the manner |,
which he solved the problem of proI
lens that awaited him. Thirteen year
after the organization OF the Snprcm
Court he announced for the first time
in The case of Marbury V. Madison
that il possessed both the right an
The power To declare null and void n
act of Congress in violation OF tn
constitution. Tho invinciblc logic en-
pioycd in the demonstration rcstc
necessarily upon the admission thc
The august right in question WAS
mere deduction from the general II,
turc OF a system OF government who's
constitution had failed to grant it /
express tc"ms. Such deduction wa:
Of. course, a pure creation of Judge
made law. The only prcccdcntS tina
existed were to he found in the State.
whore ii had frequently been held tina
State court could declare an aci
of the legislature void because of rt
pugnancc To the State constitution. Th
States had borrowed tho idea from tn
action of the English Privy Council,
which sometimes annullcd the acts o
colonial legislature, when i'm conflic
with colonial charters. After snc
charters were transformed into Stat
constitutions. the judicial committc.
wa; superseded by the Supreme Court
Of the several States
A Unique Power.
Finally when the new system O
/ limitations on legislative power. thu.
horn in the States. widrncd into ne
tional Importance through its applic;
ton to the legislative power veste
i In the unique federal republic
! created by the constitution q
1887, the inevitable outcome was tn
, supreme court Of the United State:
the only court in history ever cndowe
with the right to pass on the valihit
81 national law. When by the in,
aided force OF irresistible judicial logi-
Marshall lifted that right into the high
! est nossihlc sphere. he wrought revc
luton in Jurisprudence of the world b
/ giving to julgc-mahe law its wides
possible expansion, an expansion fc
which no precedent could he found 1;
the history Of the past And yet n
1urist ever recognized moro religious
w than Marshall the difference tha
divides system of organic law from
n mere code of municipal law. In ;
leading case he said: a constitution
to contain an accurate detail of nj
the subdivision of which its creates
powers will admit anil of all tho mnan,