ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

ART. II. -ORDERS, RESOLUTIONS, AND VOTES.

Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, except on a question of adjournment,

1. Shall be presented to the President of the United States. 2. It shall be approved by him before the same shall take effect; or, being disapproved by him,

3. It shall be passed by the two houses of Congress, by two-thirds of each, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill. 25.

Were it not for this provision, Congress might exert their power in the form of orders, resolutions, or votes; thus preventing the President from interposing his veto. They could thus substantially legislate in these forms without the sanction of the Executive, and without the necessity of a two-third majority of each house. As it now stands, the President has the same power of disapproval of an order, resolution, or vote, that he has to negative an act passed in the ordinary forms of legislation; and, if he disapproves them by the interposition of his veto, they must be re-passed by the yeas and nays, and by the same formalities as required in the second process for the passage of a bill.

CHAPTER VI.

PROHIBITIONS ON THE UNITED STATES.

ARTICLE I.-HABEAS CORPUS.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when the public safety may require it.

1. In cases of rebellion.

2. In cases of invasion. 45.

§ 1. In legal parlance, a writ is an instrument in writing, under seal, issued by authority of the king, president, governor, judge, or other magistrate, directed to a public officer or a private individual, commanding him to do or not to do some particular thing therein specified, over which the officer issuing it has jurisdiction.

§ 2. It sometimes happens in the administration of law and gov ernment that a person is wrongfully imprisoned, or restrained of his liberty, before trial and final sentence by a court of competent jurisdiction. Sometimes, also, persons may be wrongfully restrained of their liberty without even so much as the forms of law; as by improperly holding a child in custody, or locking a person in a room. More usually, however, it is done by a perversion of the forms of

law.

§ 3. The remedy in such cases is by a writ of habeas corpus, as it is called; taking its name from the command in the writ to produce the body of some person named therein, who, it is alleged, is illegally restrained of his liberty. Habeas corpus signifies, “have you the body." The proceedings in such cases are substantially in this manner:

For instance, William Jackson is imprisoned in Monroe-county jail, New York.

1st. He, or some person in his behalf, makes affidavit that he is wrongfully restrained of his liberty in the jail aforesaid by some person, say John Brown, the jailer.

2d. This affidavit is made before a court of competent jurisdiction, and a writ of habeas corpus is asked of the court.

3d. The writ is issued, of course, commanding John Brown to

bring the body of William Jackson before the court on a day mentioned in the writ, and to make return on the writ why he, Brown, holds Jackson in custody or under restraint. 4th. The writ is served by some competent officer by reading it to Brown, and giving him a certified copy if requested. 5th. On the day named in the writ for its return, Brown appears in

court with Jackson, and Brown shows the court by documentary or other legal proofs his right to the custody of Jackson.

6th. If the reasons for holding the prisoner are deemed legally insufficient by the court, the prisoner is set at liberty: if, on the other hand, they are regarded as valid, the prisoner is remanded back to prison.

7th. This proceeding under a writ of habeas corpus does not de

termine the guilt or innocence of the prisoner, but simply
whether he is rightfully or wrongfully restrained of his liberty
at the time of inquiry. Excessive bail may have been required
of him, and he may have been unable to procure it, though
he might have offered a reasonable sum. The papers on which
he was committed may be defective in form or substance.
man may be guilty, yet illegally imprisoned.

A

§ 4. Every American citizen, if restrained of his liberty before conviction, has the right to avail himself of the advantages of proceeding by habeas corpus to ascertain the legality of his imprisonment. The only exceptions to this rule are, 1st, when the privilege of the writ is suspended by proper authority in a time of insurrection or invasion; 2d, when a person has been committed for contempt of court; and, 3d, when the imprisonment is by final judgment of a competent court.

§ 5. In cases of rebellion or invasion, it may be necessary to temporarily suspend the privilege of this writ. Rebellion here means an uprising of the citizens of a country against its authority. The power of suspension of the privilege of this writ was vested by Congress in the President of the United States during the Great Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Invasion, as used in the Constitution, means the entry of a hostile force of a foreign nation into our territory.

ART. II.- DIRECT TAXES.

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census. 5, 47.

NOTE. The subject of taxation is discussed quite fully in treating of the powers of Congress, and need not be repeated here.

ART. III.-EXPORT DUTIES.

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 48.

The intention of this prohibition is to prevent taxing the interests. of any State to its detriment, and giving undue advantages to others.

The productions of some of the States are very different from those of others; and, were export duties allowed to be enforced, the burdens of taxation would be very unequal. The staple production of some States is cotton; of others, rice; of others, tobacco; of others, sugar; and of others, articles of manufacture which are used chiefly for home consumption. Some States are interested in the coast fisheries, others in whaling, and still others in navigation and commerce. It would be impossible to so adjust export duties, were they allowed, as to distribute the burdens equally.

ART. JV.-INTER-STATE COMMERCE.

1. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one Stute over another. 2. Nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to

enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 48.

Although Congress is invested with power to regulate commerce among the States, yet that power is coupled with these prohibitions: No preference shall be given to the ports of one State over another; nor shall entrance or clearance fees, or the payment of duties, be required in an intermediate State while vessels are passing from one State to another. A vessel bound to Philadelphia from Liverpool, in passing Boston or New York, can not be compelled to enter, clear, or pay duties in either of the last two ports named. The duties must be paid in Philadelphia, the port to which the vessel is bound.

ART. V.-PUBLIC MONEY.

1. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.

2. A regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time. 49.

3. No appropriation of money to raise and support armies shall be for a longer term than two years. 37.

§ 1. The Congress of the United States is made not only the guardian of the public interests generally, but of the public treasury in particular. Even when it is settled by judicial decision that a

specific sum is due to a creditor, the money can not be drawn therefor until Congress shall have passed upon the validity of the claim, and ordered an appropriation. The whole matter is subject to the critical review and decision of Congress. The object of this provision is to secure strict faithfulness in the public expenditures. Neither the executive, nor the judiciary, nor the heads of departments, nor the officers of the army or navy, nor even members of Congress themselves, can draw a dollar of the public money except by appro priations made by law.

§ 2. The requirement that a regular account and statement of the receipts and expenditures of the public money shall be published from time to time puts a most salutary check on the possible profusion and extravagance of the National Legislature. The people have the right to know how, and for what purposes, their money expended. The heads of the departments must make an annual exhibit of their transactions respectively.

is

§ 3. The fear that the army might possibly become a power too formidable to be consistent with the rights and liberties of the people led to this Constitutional limitation of army appropriations. It is necessary to raise and support armies even in time of peace; but not a dollar can be appropriated for this purpose without the sanction of Congress. And, lest Congress may be extravagant in this direction, or the administration acquire too much power over the army, they are forbidden to make appropriations extending beyond the period of two years. A Congress lasts for but two years; and, should they be profuse in their appropriations of army money, the people will be likely to correct the error in their election of the succeeding Congress.

ART. VI. -NCBILITY.

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States. 50. The government instituted in this country at the close of the Revolutionary War, and which took definite shape in the Constitution of the United States, was intended to be characterized for republican simplicity. The theory of our institutions is, all citizens are equal before the law. Orders of nobility are forbidden, in accordance with this theory. Alexander Hamilton says, "This may

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »