812 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



liberty, or property, except in conformity with such laws as it may 

 enact" 



The general meaning of the phrase " due process of law," and of 

 the synonymous expression " law of the land," has, however, been 

 made so often the subject of discussion and legal decision as to be in 

 no sense a matter of doubt. Mr. Webster, in the Dartmouth College 

 case, defined these terms as follows : " By the law of the land is 

 most clearly intended the general law, which hears before it con- 

 demns, which proceeds upon inquiry, and renders judgment only 

 after trial. The meaning is that every citizen shall hold his life, 

 liberty, property, and immunities under the protection of the gen- 

 eral rules which govern society. Everything which may pass under 

 the form of an enactment is not the law of the land." And in com- 

 menting on this definition, Justice Cooley, in his treatise on Constitu- 

 tional Limitations, uses this language : " This definition of Mr. Web- 

 ster is apt and suitable as applied to judicial proceedings, which can 

 not be valid unless they proceed upon inquiry, and render judgment 

 only after trial. It is entirely correct, also, in assuming that a 

 legislative enactment is not necessarily the law of the land. The 

 words ' by the law of the land,' as used in the Constitution, do not 

 mean a statute passed for the purpose of working wrong. That con- 

 struction would render the restriction absolutely nugatory, and turn 

 this part of the Constitution into mere nonsense. Due process of 

 law," therefore, continues Judge Cooley, after reviewing the inter- 

 pretations of various other authorities, means " such an exertion of 

 the powers of the Government as the settled maxims of law sanction, 

 and under such safeguards for the protection of individual rights 

 as these maxims prescribe." 



" The very idea of taxation, the very elements of the terms tax 

 - — taxation — implies that it is an imposition or levy upon persons or 

 property in due course or order, treating all alike in the same condi- 

 tion and circumstances. The burden of taxation must be equalized 

 by this mode in order to preserve its character. It is in any view 

 taking private property for public use; and it can not be so taken 

 without an equivalent both as to the Government or the citizens. It 

 is not competent for the Government to convert private property to 

 public use, by way of taxation and without compensation, any more 

 than by any other mode." — Redfield. 



Now, the exact applicability of the fourteenth amendment in 

 restraining the several States in the exercise of their so-called " tax- 

 ing powers " would appear to be this: 



Taxation implies protection. It is held by every authority to be 

 the equivalent for the protection which the Government affords to 

 the property of its citizens. When, therefore, a State (like Connecti- 



