Court : US Supreme Court
..... is, then, to be considered, either that the corporation at large acquired the power, under the law by which it was instituted; or that the mayor's court acquired the right of appointment, as an incident to their jurisdiction; and the last section of the act of assembly directs the most favorable construction to be made, for the benefit of the corporation. ..... besides, by the 39th section of that act, the corporation have an express power given them to appoint all such officers as they shall think necessary for the well governing of the city, and the ordering of the affairs ..... it is now unnecessary to enquire, whether this section militated with the constitutional powers of the supreme executive council, or a former legislative construction of them, as we must be governed by the present ..... tilghman stated, that the true question was, whether the act of incorporation gave to the mayor, or recorder, and aldermen the power of appointing the clerk of the mayor's ..... by the 8th section of the same article, 'he shall appoint all officers, whose offices are established by that constitution, or shall be established by law, and whose appointments are not therein otherwise provided ..... by the first section of the second article of the constitution, 'the supreme executive power of this commonwealth is vested in the ..... this rests on the true construction of the act of assembly, of the 11th march 1789, incorporating the city; and of the state constitution, agreed to in convention, on the 2nd of september .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... . we find the legislature of the united states expressing themselves in the like general and comprehensive manner; they speak in the thirteenth section of the judicial act, of controversies where a state is a party, and as they do not impliedly or expressly apply that term to either of the litigants in particular, we are to understand them ..... "the common law," a law which i presume is the groundwork of the laws in every state in the union, and which i consider, so far as it is applicable to the peculiar circumstances of the country, and where no special act of legislation controls it, to be in force in each state as it existed in england (unaltered by any statute) at the time of the first settlement of the country. ..... before us renders it necessary to pay particular attention to that part of the second section which extends the judicial power "to controversies between a state and citizens of another ..... as a judge of this court, i know, and can decide upon the knowledge that the citizens of georgia, when they acted upon the large scale of the union, as a part of the "people of the united states," did not surrender the supreme or sovereign power to that state, but, as to the purposes of the union, ..... according to the principles i have supported in this argument, admitting that states ought to be so considered for that purpose, an act of the legislature is necessary to give effect to such a construction, unless the old doctrine concerning corporations will naturally apply to this .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... and whether the fraud be of a moral nature, for the purpose of doing a wilful injustice, or the act be, as the lawyers term it, in fraudem legis (that is, to evade some law) the law will equally interpose, to prevent its own principles from being made mere instruments, to defeat its own purposes. ..... the strong instance of this is a provision in the judicial act, to the following effect: 'that no district or circuit court shall have cognizance of any suit to recover the contents of any promissory note, or other chose in action, in favour of an assignee, unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such ..... the intent of the act certainly was, that the want of form should not defeat the intention of an honest, but unskilful conveyance; but surely not to smooth the path of injustice, by converting a rightful estate into a wrongful one. 3d. ..... ] there is no act in law, within my recollection, which fraud will not vitiate. ..... allowing the highest efficacy to this deed under the act of assembly. ..... nothing gives a legal title under the act of h. 8. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... they shall not pass any ex post facto law, or, in other words, they shall not inflict a punishment for any act, which was innocent at the time it was committed, nor increase the degree of punishment previously denounced for any specific offense. ..... but, let us for a moment suppose, that the resolution granting a new trial was a legislative act, it will by no means follow that it is an act affected by the constitutional prohibition that "no state shall pass any ex post facto law. ..... ablest and the purest men have differed upon the subject, and all that the court could properly say in such an event would be that the legislature (possessed of an equal right of opinion) had passed an act which, in the opinion of the judges, was inconsistent with the abstract principles of natural justice. ..... the constitution of the united states, article i, section 9, prohibits the legislature of the united states from passing any ex post facto law, and in section 10 lays several restrictions on the authority of the legislatures of the several states, and among them "that no state shall pass any ex post facto law. ..... than eighteen months had elapsed from the first decree of the court of probate, during which the right of appeal had been lost, and there was no law of connecticut, before the passing of the special act of the legislature, by which a new hearing of the case could have been obtained. ..... the arrangement of the distinct members of this section necessarily points to this meaning. ..... " article i, section 10. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... indeed, the trustees were insolvent, or if any collusion could be charged upon them, it might be deemed a ground to suspect, repudiate and annul the act; but the circumstances of the present case exclude every idea of the kind; and a mere possibility of wrong affords no rule for argument. ..... huston or the survivor of them or the heirs or assigns of them or of the survivor all such further and other acts deeds conveyances and assurances in the law whatsoever, for the better and more perfect granting conveying assuring and vesting the lands and premises aforesaid in them the said alexander james dallas ..... is said, that the trust is general: but both in the manner, and in the time, of executing it, the trustees must act conscientiously, or they will incur a responsibility, as for a breach of trust. 2d. ..... as there is no law of the land, that authorises a debtor to pass an act of limitation in his own favour, i hope this court will never do it for ..... the construction of the statute, it must, also, be remembered, that there is an essential difference between 'the end and purpose,' of an act, and the consequence and result, which naturally follow it. ..... but if the present case is not so generated, it is not an act within the letter of the statute, 'to the end and purpose to delay, hinder, and defraud creditors, and others, of their just and lawful ..... what is fraudulent, depends on the moral intention; on the impulse of the will, to perform the act, which necessarily produces the obnoxious consequence. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... of the warrant, and a residence thereon for five years next following the first settlement, on pain of forfeiture, by a new warrant; but if, nevertheless, he should be interrupted or obstructed by the force of the enemy from doing those acts within the limited periods, and should afterwards persevere in his efforts in a reasonable time after the removal of such force, until these objects should be accomplished, no advantage shall be taken of him, for the want of a ..... the date of such warrants respectively, or within two years after? 2d. are the titles that have issued from the land-office, under the act aforesaid, whether by warrant or patent, good and effectual in law against this commonwealth, or any person claiming under the act aforesaid, in cases where such titles have issued on the authority and have been grounded upon the certificates of two justices of the peace, ..... ? will not the proviso in the 9th section of the act of the 3d of april 1792, excuse the temporary non-performance of an act, rendered highly dangerous, if not absolutely impracticable, by imperious circumstances, over which he had ..... his damages, costs, and charges, aforesaid, amounting in the whole to two hundred dollars and six cents, and the court accordingly render judgment thereon for the plaintiff, subject to the proviso in the 9th section of the act of assembly, passed the third day of april 1792 ..... the company have complied with the condition of the 9th section of the act of april 1792? 2d .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... subsequent to the act of assumption, an act passed supplementary to the act entitled "an act concerning the district of columbia," the second section of which is in these words: "all indictments shall run in the name of the united states and conclude against the peace and government thereof, and all fines, penalties, and forfeitures accruing under the laws of ..... the sixteenth section continues still to manifest a solicitude or the preservation of the existing state of things, so far as was compatible with the change of government, by declaring that nothing contained in the act should be construed to affect rights granted by or derived from the acts of incorporation of alexandria and georgetown, or of any body politic or corporate within the said district, except so far as relates to their judicial powers ..... if a penalty recoverable by any individual by action of debt was to be considered as designed to be embraced by the second section of the supplemental act, still an action of debt in the name of the united states and of the informer would seem to be the remedy given by the act. ..... every remaining section of the act to the 16th is employed on subjects where the mere change of government required the intervention of the general ..... the first section of the first act, declaring that the laws of the two states respectively should remain in force in the parts of the territory ceded by each, was perhaps only declaratory of a principle which would have been in full operation without such .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... the first section of the repealing act of april 6, 1802, enacts "that from and after 30 june next, the internal duties on stills and domestic distilled spirits, on refined sugars, licenses to retailers, sales at auction, carriages for the conveyance of persons, and stamped vellum, parchment and paper shall be discontinued, and all acts and parts of acts relative thereto shall, from and after the said 30 june next, be repealed, " "provided that for the recovery ..... must be admitted that the first part of the first section of the repealing law does away any forfeiture which was to be produced by the future operation of the act repealed. ..... doctrine, they have been resorted to by the defendant in error to show that the terms used in the second section of the act under consideration are such as in all those acts import the imposition of a duty. ..... if, then, the other parts of the act demonstrate that the words "collected" and "paid" have not for their object all sugars to be refined, this section is necessarily restrained in its operation by those which follow and designate more particularly what is in the first instance ..... admitted on both sides, and the repealing law is to be construed as if it had passed on 30 june, to take effect immediately, and the proviso had been expressed in words of the present tense, thus, "provided, that for the recovery and receipt of such duties as have now accrued and now remain outstanding, the provisions of the aforesaid act shall remain in full force and .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... ) 336 on certificate of division of opinion among the judges of the circuit court of massachusetts syllabus the provisions of the thirty-first section of the act of congress, passed 30 april, 1790, entitled "an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the united states," by which prosecutions on penal statutes are limited, is general in its provisions, so that they extend to penalties imposed after as before the act and also to actions of debt, as well as to informations and indictments. ..... an action of debt was instituted for the penalty of $2,000 imposed by the second section of the act of congress passed 22 march, 1794, "to prohibit the carrying on the slave trade from the united states to any foreign place ..... this plea was founded upon the thirty-first section of the act of congress, entitled "an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the united states," passed 30 ..... the second section provides "that all and every person building, fitting out, or equipping, loading, or otherwise preparing or sending away any ship or vessel knowing or intending that the same shall be employed in the slave trade, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the act or any ways aiding or abetting therein shall severally forfeit and pay the sum of $2,000; one moiety thereof to the use of the united states ..... this is an action of debt brought to recover a penalty imposed by the act entitled "an act to prohibit the carrying an the slave trade from the united states to any foreign place .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... "an act to explain an act passed in 1789, entitled an act to amend an act concerning proving of wills and granting letters of administration, and to prevent frauds in the management of intestates' estates,' passed in 1715, and for other purposes:" "whereas doubts have been entertained whether that part of the ninth section of the said act, passed in 1715, which requires the creditors of any person deceased to make their claims within seven years after the decease of such debtor or be forever barred, is or is not repealed ..... by the said act, passed ..... that the said act passed in the year 1789 shall not be considered as a repeal of that part of the ninth section of the act passed in the year 1715 aforesaid, but that the same shall be deemed, held, and taken to be in full force. .....
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