Court : US Supreme Court
..... before it. it derives its authority from the same pure and sacred source as itself: the voluntary and deliberate choice of the people. 2nd. a corporation can do no act but what is subject to the revision either of a court of justice or of some other authority within the government. a state is altogether exempt ..... where the general government has power derived from the constitution itself. 3rd. a corporation is altogether dependant on that government to which it owes its existence. its charter may be forfeited by abuse. its authority may be annihilated, without abuse, by an act of the legislative body. a state, though subject in certain specified particulars to ..... 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 particular case. 3rd. that, as it is evident the act of congress has not made any special provision in this case, grounded .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... 223 british debts contracted before the war. it is worthy of remembrance that delegates and representatives were elected, by the people of the several counties and corporations of virginia to meet in general convention for the purpose of framing a new government by the authority of the people only, and that the said convention ..... debt in the declaration mentioned was personal property within this commonwealth, belonging to a british subject at the time of the passing of the said act entitled 'an act concerning escheats and forfeitures from british subjects,' and the defendants in fact also say that the debt in the declaration mentioned is a demand originally ..... aforesaid, the legislature of the state of virginia did, at its session commenced and held in the city of williamsburg on 3 may, 1779, pass an act entitled 'an act concerning escheats and forfeitures from british subjects,' whereby it was, among other things enacted," " that all the property, real and personal, within this commonwealth .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... or the barbaric character of the times; yet even as to cases of treason and felony, a striking distinction is admitted in favor of goods and chattels, and mesne acts before conviction or inquisition are suffered to retain their actual validity. " page 12 u. s. 416 "looking to the vast extent of commercial transfers, the favor with ..... of a bona fide purchaser, and mr. justice willes, in delivering the opinion of the court, in alluding to the argument that the forfeiture attached the moment the act was done, said 'it may be so as to some purposes, as to prevent intermediate alienations and encumbrances.' to be sure, this expression carries with it a ..... nor whether it shall be incapable of being purged by subsequent events. the forfeitures under the statute are to be distributed in the same manner as forfeitures under the collection act of 2 march, 1799, 91, by which informers and officers of the customs, as well as the government, may acquire vested interests, and it follows therefore that .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... , says he, "a franchise for a number of persons to be incorporated and exist as a body politic, with a power to maintain perpetual succession, and to do corporate acts, and each individual of such corporation is also said to have a franchise, or freedom." this franchise, like other franchises, is an incorporeal hereditament, issuing out of something real or personal, or concerning ..... ," says mr. justice blackstone, "for a number of persons to be incorporated and subsist as a body politic, with power to maintain perpetual succession, and do other corporate acts, and each individual member of such corporation is also said to have a franchise or freedom." 2 bl.com. 37; 1 kyd on corp. 14, 16. in order to get rid of the legal .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... compact between different states of the union. the prohibition of the constitution embraces all contracts, executed or executory, between private individuals, or a state and individuals or corporations, or between the states themselves. page 21 u. s. 3 this was a writ of right, brought in the circuit court of kentucky by the demandants, ..... of powers which the people have forbidden their legislature to exercise. to constitute the sovereign and independent state of kentucky was unquestionably the leading object of the act of virginia of 18 december, 1789. to exercise unlimited legislative power over the territory within her own limits is one of the essential attributes of that ..... any court should blend and confound them. these considerations lead me to the conclusion that the defendant is not entitled to judgment under either of the acts under consideration, even admitting them to be constitutional; but if under either, certainly under that alone which has been adopted into the practice of the .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... reasons of public convenience and individual safety and protection would not be promoted by establishing it. on the other hand, every case which has been adduced to show that corporate acts need not always be reduced to writing, but may be proved by presumptions, is a fortiori an authority against the argument. there are, however, some cases which ..... this distinction, he supposes, will reconcile all the cases. the distinction, if admitted, will not aid the argument. it may be, and indeed is conceded, that no corporate act can be valid if done differently from the manner prescribed by law as essential to its validity. if in the present case the statute had prescribed that nothing but a ..... are binding, and of course written memorandums made by such officer in pursuance of orders of the board, whether on the note itself or in a book, is a corporate act, is written evidence of such order of the board of direct is as the writing imports. the counsel for the defendant has, i think, shown from "the .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... bills, from ten dollars to fifty cents, fitted them for the purpose of ordinary circulation, and their reception in payment of taxes, and debts to the government and to corporations, and of salaries and fees, would give them currency. they were to be put into circulation -- that is emitted by the government. in addition to all these ..... the certificates issued under the authority of the missouri law, bills of credit, within this prohibition? the form of the certificate is prescribed in the third section of the act (act 27 june, 1821) as follows: "this certificate shall be receivable at the treasury or any of the loan offices of the state of missouri, in the discharge of ..... (4 pet.) 410 error to the supreme court of the state of missouri syllabus on 27 june, 1821, the legislature of the state of missouri passed an act entitled "an act for the establishment of loan offices," by the third section of which the officers of the treasury of the state, under the direction of the governor, were .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... , the writ of mandamus is defined to be a command issuing in the king's name from the court of king's bench and directed to any person, corporation, or inferior court of judicature within the king's dominions requiring them to do some particular thing therein specified which appertains to their office and duty and which the ..... the writ of mandamus is defined to be a command issuing in the king's name from the court of king's bench and directed to any person, corporation, or inferior court of judicature within the king's dominions requiring them to do some particular thing therein specified which appertains to their office and duty and which ..... in angliaco," which can issue the writ only by virtue of its great supervisory powers over all inferior courts, magistrates, officers and corporations, to force obedience to the statutes, and compel them to do those legal acts which it is their duty to do. i must follow my own judgment, and dissent in the threshold: obsta principiis -- stare decisis .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... , and if, in such a case, jurisdiction could be sustained against the agent of the state, why can it not be sustained against a corporation, acting as agent, under an unconstitutional act of massachusetts, in collecting tolls which belong to the plaintiffs? in the second place, it is contended that this court cannot take jurisdiction of this ..... between them and the commonwealth, and, being contrary to the constitution of the united states, is void. in their answer, the respondents deny that the act creating the corporation of the warren bridge, impairs the obligation of any contract set forth in the bill of the complainants. the court must look at the case made in ..... is there anything in our local situation or in the nature of our political institutions which should lead us to depart from the principle where corporations are concerned? are we to apply to acts of incorporation a rule of construction differing from that of the english law, and, by implication, make the terms of a charter in .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
..... the bank has no power to emit bills which have the impress of the sovereignty or which contain a pledge of its faith. it is a simple corporation, acting within the sphere of its corporate powers, and can no more transcend them than any other banking institution. the state, as a stockholder, bears the same relation to the bank as ..... and may, by endorsement thereon, &c.;, be assigned," &c.;, 5 w. & m. c. 20, 29 (3 ruff. 563). so, in the 26th section of the same act, "the corporation shall not borrow or give security by bill, bond, covenant or agreement under their common seal," &c.; ibid. the word "bill" denotes a sealed paper, either a bill obligatory, which ..... share of the capital stock, is treated like every other stockholder, and is understood to incur no public responsibility whatsoever. it descends to the character of a mere corporator, and does not act in the character of a sovereign. that was the doctrine of this court in united states bank v. planters' bank of georgia, 9 wheat. 904. "it .....
Tag this Judgment!