Marbury v. Madison
5 U.S. 137 · 1803-02
Judicial review: it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.
Edition: U. S. Reports, bound volume
Source: U. S. Reports, volume 5, at 137 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
Voices: Opinion of the court.
At the last term on the affidavits then read and filed with the clerk, a rule was granted in this case, requiring the secretary of state to shew cause why a mandamus should not issue, directing him to deliver to William Marbury his commission as a justice of the peace for the county of Washington in the district of Columbia.
No cause has been shewn, and the present motion is for a mandamus. The peculiar delicacy of this case, the novelty of some of its circumstances, and the real difficulty attending the points which occur in it, require a complete exposition of the principles, on which the opinion to be given by the court, is founded.Read it in the reading room ›