diction of the State is not excluded, but remains in full force, subject, however, to the rightful exercise of the powers of the national government.

[Clause 18.] "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."

§ 321. This clause does not in terms grant any new power, or enlarge or diminish any of the powers elsewhere granted. It simply authorizes Congress to make use of such particular means as may be necessary or proper, in order to execute the general powers conferred by the Constitution upon the federal government or any department or officer thereof.

§ 322. By the Articles of Confederation, (Art. 2,) each State retained every power and right not expressly delegated to the United States. The Constitution, however, has not only conferred upon Congress certain express powers, but has also conferred such other incidental powers (without actually naming them) as may be necessary or proper for carrying into execution the powers expressly granted.

CHAPTER IX.

RESTRICTIONS UPON CONGRESS.

SECTION 9.

THIS section enumerates certain restrictions upon the powers of Congress.

[Clause 1.] "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or Duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person."

§ 323. One of the main objects of this clause was to enable Congress to put an end to the introduction of slaves into the United States from abroad, after the year 1808, and to restrain their importation until then, by a tax not exceeding ten dollars for each person; but the clause includes within its language the migration of other persons as well as the importation of slaves.

§ 324. On the 1st of January, 1808, an act of Congress went into effect, which imposed heavy penalties upon persons engaged in the slave-trade; and in 1820 another act declared the slave trade to be piracy, and punishable with death.

§ 325. The restriction in this clause is applicable only

to the migration or importation of the slaves or other persons. It, therefore, left Congress at liberty to legislate on the subject of the slave-trade when prosecuted out of the limits of the United States by citizens of the United States. In the exercise of this power, Congress, by an act passed March 22, 1794, forbade citizens and other persons from fitting out any vessel in any place within the United States, for the purpose of carrying on any traffic in slaves to any foreign country.

§ 326. Many other acts have been passed on the subject, the object of which is the entire suppression of the slavetrade by American citizens, and by any and all others in American vessels.

[Clause 2.] "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

§ 327. Writ is a legal term, and means in general a command in writing, under seal, in the name of a king, judge, or other magistrate, directed to a public officer or private individual, requiring him to do something in relation to a suit or other legal proceeding.

§ 328. The writ of habeas corpus mentioned in the above clause is a writ directed to a person charged with detaining another unlawfully in his custody, commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner, and to declare the reason of his detention. It is a great and efficacious writ," intended to secure personal liberty, and provide a means of redress for all manner of illegal imprisonment and unlawful restraint of the person.

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§ 329. The courts of the United States issue this writ in cases falling within their jurisdiction, upon the written application of any person who alleges that he is deprived

of his liberty contrary to law, or upon the application of others in behalf of such person. The writ is directed to him who has the prisoner in custody, commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner, together with the cause of his detention, before the judge by whose allowance the writ is issued.

§ 330. The prisoner must be produced, in obedience to the writ, and then the judge examines the whole matter, and if the imprisonment is illegal, he discharges the party from custody; if legal, he remands him again into custody.

§ 331. This clause provides for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus only in cases of rebellion or invasion, when the public safety requires it; but Congress has never suspended the writ since the Constitution went into operation.

[Clause 3.] "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."

§ 332. Bills of attainder are acts of a legislature which inflict the punishment of death upon persons supposed to be guilty of great offences, without a trial had before a judicial tribunal according to law. Such bills have frequently been passed by the British Parliament in former times, during seasons of violent political excitement, by which the accused have unjustly been deprived of life, without a trial, and upon insufficient or illegal evidence, and even without an opportunity to answer the charge.

§ 333. Ex post facto laws are such as are passed after the act to which they refer has been committed. This clause has been considered as applying only to criminal acts, or to laws for penalties and punishments. Laws which make an act a crime, and punishable as such, which was not a crime when done, or which render an act pu

nishable in a more aggravated manner than that in which it was punishable when done, or which make the crime greater than it was when committed, or require different or less testimony to convict for the offence than was required when the act was done, are instances of ex post facto laws. Such laws are prohibited, because they are clearly unjust and arbitrary.

[Clause 4.] "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken."

§ 334. We have already considered the nature of capitation and other direct taxes, and the rule of apportionment according to the census, by which they are to be imposed. See § 78 and § 190.

[Clause 5.] "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State."

§ 335. The articles exported from the different States are so various in their nature, that if a tax were imposed on any single article of export, the burden would fall almost altogether upon the particular State or States exporting that article, and the States exporting other articles would be comparatively untaxed. It is to prevent such an unequal distribution of taxes or duties, that Congress is prohibited from laying them on articles exported from any State.

[Clause 6.] "No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another."