Gibbons v. Ogden · ¶123

It is impossible, with the views which I entertain of the principle on which the commercial privileges of the people, of the United States, among themselves, rests, to concur in the view which this Court takes of the effect of the coasting license. in this cause. 1 do not regard it as the foundation of the right set up in behalf of the appellant. If there was any one object riding over every other in the adoption of the constitution, it was to keep the commercial intercourse among the States free from all invidious and partial restraints. And I cannot oyercome the conviction, that if the licensing act was repealed to-morrow, the rights.of the appellant to a reversal of the decision complained of, would be as strong as it is under this license. One half the doubts *n life arise from thé defects of language, and if this instrument had been called an exempnon instead of a license, it would…

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 22, at 1 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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