With the
Declaration of Independence the thirteen colonies became sovereigns.
Petty sovereigns it is true, and singly contemptible in physical force
as against most foreign nations, but none the less tenacious of the
attributes of sovereignty, and especially of the attribute which enabled
them to repudiate their debts. Jay, Marshall, and their like, thought
that they could impose the same moral standard upon the states as upon
private persons; they were unable to do so, but in making the attempt
they involved the American judicial system in a maze of difficulties
whose gravity, I fear, can hardly be exaggerated. Before entering upon
this history, however, I must say a word touching the nature of our law.
Municipal law, to be satisfactory, should be a body of abstract
principles capable of being applied impartially to all relevant facts,
just as Marshall and Jay held it to be. Where exceptions begin, equality
before the law ends, as I have tried to show by the story of King David
and Uriah, and therefore the great effort of civilization has been to
remove judges from the possibility of being subjected to a temptation,
or to a pressure, which may deflect them from impartiality as between
suitors.
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