Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Rights reserved to the people.7 The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE X.7

Powers reserved to the States.7 The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

CASE NOTES

In general.- "It is a familiar rule of construction of the Constitution of the Union, that the sovereign powers vested in the State governments by their respective constitutions, remained unaltered and unimpaired, except so far as they were granted to the government of the United States. That the intention of the framers of the Constitution in this respect might not be misunderstood, this rule of interpretation is expressly declared in the tenth article of the amendments, namely: 'The powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the States respectively, or, to the people.' The government of the United States, therefore, can claim no powers which are not granted to it by the Constitution, and the powers actually granted must be such as are expressly given, or given by necessary implication. (The Collector v. Day, 11 Wall. 113, 124, Dec. Term, 1870.)

"By the second section of Article VI., the laws of Congress are made the supreme law of the land only when they are made in pursuance of the legislative power specified in the Constitution; and by the Xth amendment the powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. The reservation to the States respectively can only mean the reservation of the rights of sovereignty which they respectively possessed before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and which they had not parted from by that instrument. And any legislation by Congress beyond the limits of the power delegated, would be trespassing upon the rights of the States or the people, and would not be the supreme law of the land, but null and void; and it would be the duty of the courts to declare it so. (Gordon v. United States, 117 U.S. 697, 705, Dec. Term, 1864.

17

"But the proposition that there are legislative powers affecting the nation as a whole which belong to, although not expressed in the grant of powers, is in direct conflict with the doctrine that this is a government of enumerated powers. That this is such a government clearly appears from the Constitution, independently of the Amendments, for otherwise there would be an instrument granting certain specified things made operative to grant other and distinct things. This natural construction of the original body of the Constitution is made absolutely certain by the Tenth Amendment. This amendment, which

was seemingly adopted with prescience of just such contention as the present, disclosed the widespread fear that the national government might, under the pressure of a supposed general welfare, attempt to exercise powers which had not been granted. With equal determination the framers intended that no such assumption should ever find justification in the organic act, and that if in the future, further powers seemed necessary, they should be granted by the people in the manner they had provided for amending that act. It reads: 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.' The argument of counsel ignores the principal factor in this article, to wit, 'the people. ' Its principal purpose was not the distribution of power between the United States and the States, but a reservation to the people of all powers not granted." (Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U.S. 46, 89-90, May 13, 1907.)

"The Constitution established a national government with powers deemed to be adequate, as they have proved to be both in war and peace, but these powers of the national government are limited by the constitutional grants. Those who act under these grants are not at liberty to transcend the imposed limits because they believe that more or different power is necessary. Such assertions of extra-constitutional authority were anticipated and precluded by the explicit terms of the Tenth Amendment, 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 528-529, May 27, 1935.

་་

"From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited. " (United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 68, Jan. 6, 1936.)

"The Tenth amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered. There is nothing in the history of its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the

[blocks in formation]

attended by the same incidents which attend the exercise by a State of its police power, or that it may tend to accomplish a similar purpose. (Hamilton, Collector of Internal Revenue v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co., 251 U.S. 146, 156, Dec. 15, 1919. See also: United States v. Lanza, 260 U.S. 377, 381-382, Dec. 11, 1922; Oklahoma City v. Sanders, 94 F.2d 323, 327, Jan. 8, 1938; United States v. Ren Ken, 55 F. Supp. 1, 7, May 6, 1944.)

Control over domestic relations.- The whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States." (In re Burrus, 136 U.S. 586, 593-594, May 19, 1890. See also: Simms v. Simms, 175 U.S. 102, 167, Nov. 20, 1899; Haddock v. Haddock, 201 U.S. 562, 575-576, Apr. 12, 1906; Hastings v. Douglass, 249 F. 378, 380-381, Mar. 15, 1918; Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Johnson, 254 F. 683, 685, Oct. 28, 1918; United States ex rel. Modianos v. Tuttle, 12 F.2d 927, Dec. 2, 1925; Frothingham v. Anthony, 69 F.2d 506, 507508, Apr. 6, 1934; McCarty v. Hollis, 120 F.2d 540, May 31, 1941.)

ARTICLE XI.

Limitations upon judicial powers. The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

EDITORIAL NOTES

The Eleventh Amendment was proposed by Congress on Mar. 4, 1794, when it passed the House (4 Ann. Cong. (3d Cong., 1st sess.) 477, 478), having previously passed the Senate on Jan. 14, 1794 (Id., 30, 31). It appears officially in 1 Stat. 402. Ratification was completed on Feb. 7, 1795, when the twelfth State (North Carolina) approved the amendment, there being then fifteen States in the Union. Official announcement of ratification was not made until Jan. 8, 1798, when President John Adams in a

message to Congress stated that: the Eleventh Amend-
ment had been adopted by three-fourths of the States
and that it may now be deemed to be a part of the
Constitution" (1 Mess. and Papers of Pres., 250).
In the interim South Carolina had ratified, and Ten-
nessee had been admitted into the Union as the Six-
teenth State.

This amendment was adopted as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 ball. 419, Feb. 18, 1793.

ARTICLE XII.7

Election of President and Vice-President.7 The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; --The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the VicePresident shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.--The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

EDITORIAL NOTE

The Twelfth Amendment was proposed by Congress on Dec. 9, 1803, when it passed the House (13 Ann. Cong. (8th Cong., 1st sess.) 775, 776), having previously passed the Senate on Dec. 2, 1803 (Id., 209). It was not signed by the presiding officers of the House and Senate until Dec. 12, 1803. It

appears officially in 2 Stat. 306. Ratification was probably completed on June 15, 1804, when the legislature of the thirteenth State (New Hampshire) approved the amendment, there being then seventeen States in the Union. The Governor of New Hampshire, however, vetoed this act of the legislature on June 20, 1804, and the act failed to pass again by twothirds vote then required by the State constitution.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Section 1. Prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section.2. Enforcement of article.] Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

EDITORIAL NOTE

The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on Jan. 31, 1865, when it passed the House (Cong. Globe (38th Cong., 2d sess.) 531), having previously passed the Senate on Apr. 8, 1864 (Id. (38th Cong., 1st sess.) 1490). It appears officially in 13 Stat. 567 under date of Feb. 1, 1865. Ratification was completed on Dec. 6, 1865, when the legislature of the twenty-seventh State (Georgia) approved the amendment, there being then thirty-six States in the Union. On Dec. 18, 1865, the Secretary of State certified that this amendment had become a part of the Constitution (13 Stat. 774).

CASE NOTES

Scope and operation of Thirteenth Amendment."It is clear that this amendment, besides abolishing forever slavery and involuntary servitude within the United States, gives power to Congress to protect all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States from being in any way subjected to slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, and in the enjoyment of that freedom which it was the object of the amendment to secure," (United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629, 640, Oct. Term, 1882.)

"The prohibition of slavery, in the Thirteenth Amendment, is well known to have been adopted with reference to a state of affairs which had existed in certain States of the Union since the foundation of the government, while the addition of the words 'involuntary servitude' were said in the Slaughterhouse cases, 16 Wall. 36, to have been intended to cover the system of Mexican peonage and the Chinese coolie trade, the practical operation of which might have been a revival of the institution of slavery under a different and less offensive name. It is clear, however, that the amendment was not intended to introduce any novel doctrine with respect to certain descriptions of service which have always been treated as exceptional; such as military and naval enlistments, or to disturb the right of parents and guardians to the custody of their minor children or wards. The amendment, however, makes no distinction between a public and a private service. To say that persons engaged in a public service are not within the amendment is to admit that there are exceptions to its general language, and the further question is at once presented, where shall the line be drawn? We know of no better answer to make than to say that services which have from time immemorial been treated as exceptional shall not be regarded as within its purview." (Robertson v. Baldwin, 165 U.S. 275, 282, Jan. 25, 1897.)

"This amendment denounces a status or condition, irrespective of the manner or authority by

which it is created. The prohibitions of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are largely upon the acts of the States, but the Thirteenth Amendment names no party or authority, but simply forbids slavery and involuntary servitude, grants to Congress power to enforce this prohibition by appropriate legislation." (Clyatt v. United States, 197 U.S. 207, 216, Mar. 13, 1905.)

"The meaning of this amendment is as clear as language can make it. The things denounced are slavery and involuntary servitude, and Congress is given power to enforce that denunciation. All understand by these terms a condition of enforced compulsory service of one to another. While the inciting cause of the Amendment was the emancipation of the colored race, yet it is not an attempt to commit that race to the care of the Nation. It is the denunciation of a condition and not a declaration in favor of a particular people. It reaches every race and every individual, and if in any respect it commits one race to the Nation it commits every race and every individual thereof. Slavery or involuntary servitude of the Chinese, of the Italian, of the Anglo-Saxon are as much within its compass as slavery or involuntary servitude of the African." (Hodges v. United States, 203 U.S. 1, 16-17, May 28, 1906.)

"Utilizing the language of the Ordinance of 1787, the Thirteenth Amendment declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist. This amendment was adopted with reference to conditions existing since the foundation of our Government, and the term involuntary servitude was intended to cover those forms of compulsory labor akin to African slavery which in practical operation would tend to produce like undesirable results. It introduced no novel doctrine with respect of services always treated as exceptional, and certainly was not intended to interdict enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the State, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc. The great purpose in view was liberty under the protection of effective government, not the destruction of the latter by depriving it of essential powers." (Butler v. Ferry, 240 U.S. 328, 332-333, Feb. 21, 1916. See also Crews v. Lundguist, 197 N.E. 768, 772, June 14, 1935.)

The exaction by government from the citizen "of the performance of his supreme and noble duty of contributing to the defense of the rights and honor of the nation, as the result of a war declared by the great representative body of the people," is not the imposition of involuntary servitude in violation of the prohibitions of the Thirteenth Amendment. (Selective Draft Law Cases, 245 U.S. 366, 390, Jan. 7, 1918.)

"The undoubted aim of the Thirteenth Amendment as implemented by the Antipe onage Act was not merely to end slavery but to maintain a system of completely free and voluntary labor throughout the United States. Forced labor in some special circumstances may be consistent with general basic system of free labor. For example, forced labor has been sustained as a means of punishing crime, and there are duties such as work on highways which society may compel. But in general the defense against oppressive hours, pay, working conditions, or treatment is the right to change employers. When the master can compel and the laborer cannot escape the obligation to go on, there is no power below to redress and no incentive above to relieve a harsh overlordship or unwholesome conditions of work. Resulting depression

of working conditions and living standards affects
not only the laborer under the system, but every
other with whom his labor comes in competition.
Whatever of social value there may be, and of course
it is great, in enforcing contracts and collection
of debts, Congress has put it beyond debate that no
indebtedness warrants a suspension of the right to
be free from compulsory service. This congressional
policy means that no state can make the quitting of
work any component of a crime, or make criminal sanc-
tions available for holding unwilling persons to la-
bor. The federal statutory test is a practical in-
quiry into the utilization of an act as well as its
mere form and terms." (Follock v. Williams, 322
U.S. 4, 17-18, Apr. 10, 1944.)

Article XIV.

Section 1. Citizens of the United States; privileges and immunities of citizens; depriving person of life, liberty, or property; denial of equal protection of the laws.7 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Apportionment of representatives.7 Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. Disabilities resulting from disloyalty of officers. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may be a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. Validity of the public debt.7 The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. Enforcement of article.7 The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

EDITORIAL NOTES

The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress on June 13, 1866, when it passed the House (Cong. Globe (39th Cong., 1st sess.) 3148, 3149), having previously passed the Senate on June 8, 1866 (Id., 3042). It appears officially in 14 Stat. 358 under date of June 16, 1866. Ratification was probably completed on July 9, 1868, when the legislature of the twenty-eighth State (South Carolina or Louisiana) approved the amendment, there being then thirty-seven States in the Union. However, Ohio and New Jersey had prior to that date withdrawn" their earlier assent to this amendment. Accordingly, the Secretary of State on July 20, 1868, certified that the amendment had become a part of the Constitution if the said withdrawals were ineffective (15 Stat. 706-707). Congress at once (July 21, 1868) passed a joint resolution declaring the amendment a part of the Constitution and directing the Secretary to promulgate it as such. On July 28, 1868, the Secretary of State certified without reservation that the amendment was a part of the Constitution.

In the interim, two other States, Alabama on July 13 and Georgia on July 21, 1868, had added their ratifications.

An act of June 6, 1898, ch. 389, 30 Stat. 432, removed the disabilities imposed by sec. 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

CASE NOTES

Citizens of the United States.- "By the original constitution citizenship in the United States was a consequence of citizenship in a state. By this clause this order of things is reversed. Citizenship in the United States is defined; it is made independent of citizenship in a state, and citizenship in a state is a result of citizenship in the United States." (United States v. Hall, 26 Fed. Cas. 79, 81, No. 15,282, May, 1871.)

"The first clause of the fourteenth amendment changes this whole subject, and removes it from the region of discussion and doubt. It recognizes in

express terms, if it does not create, citizens of the United States, and it makes their citizenship dependent upon the place of their birth, or the fact of their adoption, and not upon the constitution or laws of any State or the condition of their ancestry. A citizen of a State is now only a citizen of the United States residing in that State." (The Slaughter-house Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 95, Dec. Term, 1872. See also: Selective Draft Law Cases, 245 U.S. 366, 389-390, Jan. 7, 1918; Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U.S. 404, 427-428, Dec. 16, 1935.)

But,

"There is no doubt that women may be citizens. They are persons, and by the fourteenth amendment 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof' are expressly declared to be 'citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. in our opinion, it did not need this amendment to give them that position. Before its adoption the Constitution of the United States did not in terms prescribe who should be citizens of the United States or of the several States, yet there were necessarily such citizens without such provision." (Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wall. 162, 165, Oct. Term, 1874.)

"In the Constitution and laws of the United States the word 'citizen' is generally, if not always, used in a political sense to designate one who has the rights and privileges of a citizen of a state or of the United States. It is so used in section 1 of Article XIV of the amendments of the Constitution, which provides that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside,' and that 'no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. But it is also sometimes used in 'popular language to indicate the same thing as resident, inhabitant, or person." (Baldwin v. Franks, 120 U.S. 678, 690, Mar. 7, 1887.)

"The Fourteenth Amendment did not radically change the whole theory of the relations of the state and Federal governments to each other, and of both governments to the people. The same person may be at the same time a citizen of the United States and a citizen of a State." (In re Kemmler, 136 U.S. 436, 448, May 23, 1890.)

"The real object of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, in qualifying the words, 'All persons born in the United States,' by the addition, 'and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,' would appear to have been to exclude, by the fewest and fittest words, (besides children of members of the Indian tribes, standing in a peculiar relation to the National Government, unknown to the common law,) the two classes of cases--children born of alien enemies in hostile occupation, and children of diplomatic representatives of a foreign State--both of which, as has already been shown, by the law of England, and by our own law, from the time of the first settlement of the English colonies in America, had been recognized exceptions to the fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the country." (United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 682, Mar. 28, 1898.)

"The words 'in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,' in the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, must be presumed to have been understood and intended by the Congress which proposed the Amendment, and by the legislatures which adopted it, in the same sense in which the like words had been used by

Chief Justice Marshall in the well known case of The Exchange; and as the equivalent of the words 'within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States,' and the converse of the words, 'out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States,' as habitually used in the naturalization acts. This presumption is confirmed by the use of the word 'jurisdiction' in the last clause of the same section of the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbids any State to 'deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' It is impossible to construe the words 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof, in the opening sentence, as less comprehensive than the words 'within its jurisdiction,' in the concluding sentence of the same section; or to hold that persons 'within the jurisdiction' of one of the States of the Union are not 'subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.'" (United States v. Wong Kim Ark, supra, at 687.)

"The foregoing considerations and authorities irresistibly lead us to these conclusions: The Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens, with the exceptions or qualifications (as old as the rule itself) of children of foreign sovereigns or their ministers, or born on foreign public ships, or of enemies within and during a hostile occupation of part of our territory, and with the single additional exception of children of members of the Indian tribes owing direct allegiance to their several tribes. The Amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States." (United States v. Wong Kim Ark, supra, at 693. See also: In re Look Tong Sing, 21 F. 905, Sept. 29, 1884; In re Wy Shing, 36 F. 553, Nov. 8, 1888; Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325, 328-329, May 29, 1934; File JAG: J:JL: ac, SO 81291, Aug. 22, 1942, C.M.O. 1-1942, p. 104.)

Rights and duties of citizens.- "Whatever considerations, in the absence of a controlling provision of the Constitution, might influence the legislative or the executive branch of the Government to decline to admit persons of the Chinese race to the status of citizens of the United States, there are none that can constrain or permit the judiciary to refuse to give full effect to the preemptory and explicit language of the Fourteenth Amendment, which declares and ordains that 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. '" (United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 694, Mar. 28, 1898.)

"The power of naturalization, vested in Congress by the Constitution, is a power to confer citizenship, not a power to take it away. 'A naturalized citizen,' said Chief Justice Marshall, 'becomes a member of the society, possessing all the rights of a native citizen, and standing, in the view of the Constitution, on the footing of a native. The Constitution does not authorize Congress to enlarge or abridge those rights. The simple power of the National Legislature is to prescribe a uniform rule of naturalization, and the exercise of this power exhausts it, so far as respects the individual. The Constitution then takes him up, and, among other rights, extends to him the capacity of suing in the courts of the United States, precisely under the same circumstances under which a native might gue. Osborn v. United States Bank, 9 Wheat. 738, Congress having no power to abridge the rights

827.

« AnteriorContinuar »