al
course of proceeding; but the judicial power would have been placed
in open hostility to the State, and it was desirable to avoid this
predicament as much as possible. The Americans hold that it is nearly
impossible that a new law should not impair the interests of some
private individual by its provisions: these private interests are
assumed by the American legislators as the ground of attack against such
measures as may be prejudicial to the Union, and it is to these cases
that the protection of the Supreme Court is extended.

Suppose a State vends a certain portion of its territory to a company,
and that a year afterwards it passes a law by which the territory
is otherwise disposed of, and that clause of the Constitution which
prohibits laws impairing the obligation of contracts violated. When the
purchaser under the second act appears to take possession, the possessor
under the first act brings his action before the tribunals of the Union,
and causes the title of the claimant to be pronounced null and void. *l
Thus, in point of fact, the judicial power of the Union is contesting
the claims of the sovereignty of a State; but it only acts indirectly
and upon a special application of detail: it attacks the law in its
consequences, not in its principle, and it rather weakens than destroys
it.

[Footnote l: See Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i. p. 387.]

The last hypothesis that remained was that each State formed a
corporation enjoying a separate existence and distinct civil rights, and
that it could therefore sue or be sued before a tribunal. Thus a State
could bring an action against another State. In this instance the Union
was not called upon to contest a provincial law, but to try a suit in
which a State was a party. This suit was perfectly similar to any other
cause, except that the quality of the parties was different; and here
the danger pointed out at the beginning of this chapter exists with less
chance of being avoided. The inherent disadvantage of the very essence
of Federal constitutions is that they engender parties in the bosom
of the nation which present powerful obstacles to the free course of
justice.

High Rank Of The Supreme Court Amongst The Great Powers Of State
No nation ever constituted so great a judicial power as the
Americans--Extent of its prerogative--Its political influence--The
tranquillity and the very existence of the Union depend on the
discretion of the seven Federal Judges.

Wh