M'Culloch v. Maryland · ¶29

Is it true, that this is the sense in which the word ££ necessary” is always used?.Does it always import an absolute physical necessity, so strong, that one thing, to which another may be termed necessary, cannot exist without that other? We think it does not. If reference be had to its use, in the common affairs of the world, or in approved authors, we find that it frequently imports no.more than- that one thing is convenient, or useful, or essential to another. To employ the means necessary to an end, is generally understood as employing any means calculated to produce the end, and not as being confined to those single means, without which the end would be entirely unattainable. Such is the character of human, J , '....... language, that no word conveys to the mind, m all situations, one single definite idea;■ and nothing is more common than to use words in a figurative sense. Almost…

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 17, at 316 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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