esumed assent of the master, from the
fact of having voluntarily taken his slave to a place where the
relation of master and slave did not exist. But subsequent cases base
the right to 'exact the forfeiture of emancipation,' as they term it,
on the ground, it would seem, that it was the duty of the courts of
this State to carry into effect the Constitution and laws of other
States and Territories, regardless of the rights, the policy, or the
institutions, of the people of this State."

And the court say that the States of the Union, in their municipal
concerns, are regarded as foreign to each other; that the courts of
one State do not take notice of the laws of other States, unless
proved as facts, and that every State has the right to determine how
far its comity to other States shall extend; and it is laid down, that
when there is no act of manumission decreed to the free State, the
courts of the slave States cannot be called to give effect to the law
of the free State. Comity, it alleges, between States, depends upon
the discretion of both, which may be varied by circumstances. And it
is declared by the court, "that times are not as they were when the
former decisions on this subject were made." Since then, not only
individuals but States have been possessed with a dark and fell spirit
in relation to slavery, whose gratification is sought in the pursuit
of measures whose inevitable consequence must be the overthrow and
destruction of our Government. Under such circumstances, it does not
behoove the State of Missouri to show the least countenance to any
measure which might gratify this spirit. She is willing to assume her
full responsibility for the existence of slavery within her limits,
nor does she seek to share or divide it with others.

Chief Justice Gamble dissented from the other two judges. He says:

"In every slaveholding State in the Union, the subject of emancipation
is regulated by statute; and the forms are prescribed in which it
shall be effected. Whenever the forms required by the laws of the
State in which the master and slave are resident are complied with,
the emancipation is complete, and the slave is free. If the right of
the person thus emancipated is subsequently drawn in question in
another State, it will be ascertained and determined by the law of the
State in which the slave and his former master resided; and when it
appears that such law has been complied with, the right to freedom
will be