No Enactment Of Man Can

There Is Nothing Which So Generally Strikes The Imagination, And Engages The Affections Of Mankind, As The Right Of Property; Or That Sole And Despotic Dominion Which One Man Claims And Exercises Over The External Things Of The World, In Total Exclusion Of The Right Of Any Other Individual In The Universe. And Yet There Are Very Few, That Will Give Themselves The Trouble To Consider The Original And Foundation Of This Right.

The Most Universal And Effectual Way Of Discovering The True Meaning Of Law, When The Words Are Dubious, Is By Considering The Reason And Spirit Of It; Or The Cause Which Moved The Legislator To Enact It. For When This Reason Ceased, The Law Itself Ought Likewise To Cease With It.

If [the Legislature] Will Positively Enact A Thing To Be Done, The Judges Are Not At Liberty To Reject It, For That Were To Set The Judicial Power Above That Of The Legislature, Which Would Be Subversive Of All Government.

The Liberty Of The Press Is Indeed Essential To The Nature Of A Free State: But This Consists In Laying No Previous Restraints Upon Publications, And Not In Freedom From Censure For Criminal Matter When Published. Every Freeman Has An Undoubted Right To Lay What Sentiments He Pleases Before The Public: To Forbid This, Is To Destroy The Freedom Of The Press: But If He Publishes What Is Improper, Mischievous, Or Illegal, He Must Take The Consequence Of His Own Temerity.

No Outward Doors Of A Man's House Can In General Be Broken Open To Execute Any Civil Process; Though In Criminal Cases The Public Safety Supersedes The Private.