REPORTS OF CASES ARGUED AND ADJUDGED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Cranch, William

Verlag: Washington, New York & Flatbush, 1817

Nine volumes. Uniformly bound in contemporary calf, gilt leather labels. Some shelf wear, leather on most volumes rubbed and scraped. Light scattered foxing throughout, staining in first and ninth volumes and beginning of second volume. Contemporary ownership inscription excised in upper right corner of each titlepage without touching text, other contemporary ownership inscription of Justice Prentiss Mellen on several titlepages (see below). Very good overall. A very important set of reports of early Supreme Court cases, here present in first editions throughout and inscribed by Maine's first Chief Justice, Prentiss Mellen. Because of its publication over a period of fourteen years in three different cities with three different printers, complete sets of Cranch's Supreme Court REPORTS are extremely scarce. The REPORTS give accounts of cases before the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1815, during which time Cranch was reporter of the Court. According to the DAB, "These reports have always been highly regarded for their clarity and accuracy, and are of great importance since they contain a large number of Chief Justice Marshall's most vital opinions on fundamental constitutional problems." These include Marbury v. Madison, reported in the first volume, and about 350 cases in total. The reports begin with John Marshall's first term as Chief Justice, and continue through 1815, covering just under one half of Marshall's tenure in charge of the Supreme Court, and therefore contain accounts of many cases fundamental to the power of the court and the manner in which it interpreted the Constitution. The most famous of these is Marbury v. Madison, decided in 1803, in which the court ruled that it could not order James Madison as Secretary of State to deliver a commission to William Marbury, invalidating part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, and thereby creating the concept of judicial review that immediately became one of the central functions of the Supreme Court. Rendering the majority opinion in that case, Marshall wrote: "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each.The judicial power of the United States extends to all cases arising under the constitution." Other notable cases contained here include Stuart v. Laird, another case related to the Judiciary Act of 1801 and the Midnight Appointments of John Adams, decided just a few weeks after Marbury, which affirmed the ability of Congress to create and abolish lower level federal courts, and which refuted the claim that judicial decisions were enforceable only by the court that made them. An 1804 decision in a case related to maritime shipping during the Quasi War with France, Little v. Barreme, ruled that the President of the United States does not have any power or authority to ignore an act of Congress. The Strawbridge v. Curtiss decision in 1806 established the concept that parties in a federal suit had to be from different states. During this period the Supreme Court also established its authority to determine the constitutionality of state laws. In the 1810 case Fletcher v. Peck, which arose out of the various issues surrounding the Yazoo land claims in Georgia at the end of the 18th century, the court ruled unconstitutional a state law that repealed the act allowing the sale of the Yazoo lands to individuals on the grounds that the original sales represented binding contracts. In this case Marshall wrote: "The legislature of Georgia could not revoke a grant once executed. It had no right to declare the law void; that is the exercise of a judicial, not a legislative function. It is the province of the judiciary to say what the law is, or what it was. The legislature can only say what the law shall be." William Cranch, the compiler of the reports, was a disting. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM56659A

Bibliografische Details

Titel: REPORTS OF CASES ARGUED AND ADJUDGED IN THE ...
Verlag: Washington, New York & Flatbush
Erscheinungsdatum: 1817