John Marshall quotes
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“What are the maxims of Democracy? A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue.”
-- John Marshall -
“The power to tax is the power to destroy.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall, Joseph Potter Cotton (2000). “The Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall”, p.338, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.”
-- John Marshall -
“The power to tax involves the power to destroy;...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create....”
-- John Marshall -
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“To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well”
-- John Marshall -
“It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.”
-- John MarshallSource : Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 178, 1803.
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“In a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen.”
-- John Marshall -
“A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (2005). “The Political and Economic Doctrines of John Marshall”, p.337, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“To obtain a just compromise, concession must not only mutual-it must be equal also....There can be no hope that either will yield more than it gets in return.”
-- John Marshall -
“Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1836). “The life of George Washington: commander in chief of the American forces, during the war which established the independence of his country, and first president of the United States”, p.447
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“The law does not expect a man to be prepared to defend every act of his life which may be suddenly and without notice alleged against him.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall, Joseph Potter Cotton (2000). “The Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall”, p.142, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is...If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty.”
-- John Marshall -
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“Seldom has a battle, in which greater numbers were not engaged, been so important in its consequences as that of Cowpens.”
-- John Marshall -
“No principle of general law is more universally acknowledged, than the perfect equality of nations. Russia and Geneva have equal rights. It results from this equality, that no one can rightfully impose a rule on another....As no nation can prescribe a rule for others, none can make a law of nations.”
-- John Marshall -
“The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.”
-- John MarshallSource : Marbury v. Madison (1803)
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“When a law is in its nature a contract, when absolute rights have vested under that contract, a repeal of the law cannot divest those rights.”
-- John Marshall -
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“The most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.”
-- John Marshall -
“What is it that makes us trust our judges? Their independence in office and manner of appointment.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (2005). “The Political and Economic Doctrines of John Marshall”, p.267, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“I have always believed that national character... depends more on the female part of society than is generally imagined. Precepts from the lips of a beloved mother... sink deep in the heart, and make an impression which is seldom entirely effaced.”
-- John Marshall -
“The French Revolution will be found to have had great influence on the strength of parties, and on the subsequent political transactions of the United States.”
-- John Marshall -
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“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful.”
-- John MarshallSource : Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, (559), 1896.
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“No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States and compounding the American people into one common mass.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1839). “The Writings of John Marshall: Late Chief Justice of the United States, Upon the Federal Constitution”, p.162
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“It is the peculiar province of the legislature to prescribe general rules for the government of society; the application of those rules to individuals in society would seem to be the duty of other departments.”
-- John Marshall -
“Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.”
-- John Marshall -
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“The acme of judicial distinction means the ability to look a lawyer straight in the eyes for two hours and not hear a damned word he says.”
-- John MarshallSource : Quoted in Albert J. Beveridge, Life of John Marshall (1919)
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“The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1839). “The Writings of John Marshall: Late Chief Justice of the United States, Upon the Federal Constitution”, p.164
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“The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”
-- John Marshall -
“The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall, Joseph Potter Cotton (2000). “The Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall”, p.417, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“The Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
-- John Marshall -
“A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1839). “The Writings of John Marshall: Late Chief Justice of the United States, Upon the Federal Constitution”, p.197
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“My gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of my life. There is no act of my life on which I reflect with more pleasure. I have given to my country a judge equal to a Hole, Holt, or a Mansfield.”
-- John Marshall -
“I suspect that 280 figure is a bit low. The reality is it's probably closer to 700 to 1,000 (students) out of the 911 units. But if they get a lot of empty nesters and up-and-coming professionals to buy there, that number could be a lot lower.”
-- John Marshall -
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“Courts are the mere instruments of the law, and can will nothing. When they are said to exercise a discretion, it is a mere legal discretion, a discretion to be exercised in discerning the course prescribed by law; and, when that is discerned, it is the duty of the Court to follow it. Judicial power is never exericised for the purpose of giving effect to the will of the Judge; always for the purpose of giving effect to the will of the Legislature; or, in other words, to the will of the law.”
-- John MarshallSource : Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 22 U.S. (9 Wheaton) 738, 866, 1824.
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“I fear we may live to see another revolution.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (2005). “The Political and Economic Doctrines of John Marshall”, p.90, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.”
-- John Marshall -
“This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1839). “The Writings of John Marshall: Late Chief Justice of the United States, Upon the Federal Constitution”, p.164
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“Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.”
-- John Marshall -
“State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress. ... Inspection laws, quarantine laws, health laws of every description, as well as laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c., are component parts of this mass. No direct general power over these objects is granted to Congress, and, consequently, they remain subject to State legislation.”
-- John Marshall -
“The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall (1974). “The Papers of John Marshall: Correspondence, papers, and selected judicial opinions, March 1814-December 1819”, The University of North Carolina Press
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“A constitution is framed for ages to come, and is designed to approach immortality as nearly as human institutions can approach it.”
-- John MarshallSource : John Marshall, Joseph Potter Cotton (2000). “The Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall”, p.415, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
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“Whether a law be void for its repugnancy to the Constitution, is, at all times, a question of much delicacy, which out seldom, if ever, to be decided in the affirmative, in doubtful case. ... But it is not on slight implication and vague conjecture that the legislature is to be pronounced to have transcended its powers, and its acts to be considered as void. The opposition between the Constitution and the law should be such that the judge feels a clear and strong conviction of their incompatibility with each other.”
-- John Marshall -
“The government of the Union, then, ... is, emphatically, and truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit.”
-- John MarshallSource : Gerald Gunther, John Marshall (1969). “John Marshall's Defense of McCulloch V. Maryland”, p.26, Stanford University Press
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