John Marshall Quotes About Duty

Quotes about: Duty

• It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.

  John Marshall

  Law, Judicial Review, Court

  Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is...If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty.

  John Marshall

  Law, Essence, Two

  Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 178, 1803.

• Courts are the mere instruments of the law, and can will nothing. When they are said to exercise a discretion, it is a mere legal discretion, a discretion to be exercised in discerning the course prescribed by law; and, when that is discerned, it is the duty of the Court to follow it. Judicial power is never exericised for the purpose of giving effect to the will of the Judge; always for the purpose of giving effect to the will of the Legislature; or, in other words, to the will of the law.

  John Marshall

  Exercise, Law, Judging

  Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 22 U.S. (9 Wheaton) 738, 866, 1824.

• It is the peculiar province of the legislature to prescribe general rules for the government of society; the application of those rules to individuals in society would seem to be the duty of other departments.

  John Marshall

  Government, Peculiar, Individual

  John Marshall, Joseph Potter Cotton (2000). “The Constitutional Decisions of John Marshall”, p.245, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

• The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.

  John Marshall

  Mean, Law, Essence

  Marbury v. Madison (1803)

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