What, then, shall we say of the consent of the master, that the slave
may contract a lawful marriage, attended with all the civil rights and
duties which belong to that relation; that he may enter into a
relation which none but a free man can assume--a relation which
involves not only the rights and duties of the slave, but those of the
other party to the contract, and of their descendants to the remotest
generation? In my judgment, there can be no more effectual abandonment
of the legal rights of a master over his slave, than by the consent of
the master that the slave should enter into a contract of marriage, in
a free State, attended by all the civil rights and obligations which
belong to that condition.

And any claim by Dr. Emerson, or any one claiming under him, the
effect of which is to deny the validity of this marriage, and the
lawful paternity of the children born from it, wherever asserted, is,
in my judgment, a claim inconsistent with good faith and sound reason,
as well as with the rules of international law. And I go further: in
my opinion, a law of the State of Missouri, which should thus annul a
marriage, lawfully contracted by these parties while resident in
Wisconsin, not in fraud of any law of Missouri, or of any right of Dr.
Emerson, who consented thereto, would be a law impairing the
obligation of a contract, and within the prohibition of the
Constitution of the United States. (See 4 Wheat., 629, 695, 696.)

To avoid misapprehension on this important and difficult subject, I
will state, distinctly, the conclusions at which I have arrived. They
are:

_First._ The rules of international law respecting the emancipation of
slaves, by the rightful operation of the laws of another State or
country upon the _status_ of the slave, while resident in such foreign
State or country, are part of the common law of Missouri, and have not
been abrogated by any statute law of that State.

_Second._ The laws of the United States, constitutionally enacted,
which operated directly on and changed the _status_ of a slave coming
into the Territory of Wisconsin with his master, who went thither to
reside for an indefinite length of time, in the performance of his
duties as an officer of the United States, had a rightful operation on
the _status_ of the slave, and it is in conformity with the rules of
international law that this change of _status_ should be recognised
everywhere.

_Third._ The laws of the United Sta