Ex parte Rapier. Ex parte Dupre, (two cases.)

Citation36 L.Ed. 93,143 U.S. 110,12 S.Ct. 374
PartiesEx parte RAPIER. Ex parte DUPRE, (two cases.)
Decision Date01 February 1892
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

[Statement of Case from pages 110-112 intentionally omitted] Hannis Taylor, for petitioner Rapier.

Jas. C. Carter and Thos J. Semmes, for petitioner Dupre.

Atty. Gen. Miller and Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury, for respondents.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 113-132 intentionally omitted]

Page 132

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER delivered the opinion of the court:

We are constrained by the circumstances in which we find ourselves placed by the illness and death of Mr. Justice

Page 133

BRADLEY, to whom the preparation of the opinion in these cases was committed, to waive any elaboration of our views, and confine ourselves to the expression of the general grounds on which our decision proceeds.

These are applications for discharge by with of habeas corpus from arrest for alleged violations of an act of congress, approved September 19, 1890, entitled 'An act to amend certain sections of the Revised Statutes relating to lotteries, and for other purposes.' 26 St. p. 465.

The question for determination relates to the constitutionality of section 3894 of the Revised Statutes as amended by that act. In Ex parte Jackson, 96 U. S. 727, it was held that the power vested in congress to establish post-offices and postroads embraced the regulation of the entire postal system of the country, and that under it congress may designate what may be carried in the mail and what excluded; that in excluding various articles from the mails the object of congress is not to interfere with the freedom of the press or with any other rights of the people, but to refuse the facitities for the distribution of matter deemed injurious by congress to the public morals; and that the transportation in any other way of matters excluded from the mails would not be forbidden. Unless we are prepared to overrule that decision, it is decisive of the question before us.

It is argued that in Jackson's Case it was not urged that congress had no power to exclude lottery matter from the mails; but it is conceded that the point of want of power was passed upon in the opinion. This was necessarily so, for the real question was the existence of the power, and not the defective exercise of it. And it is a mistake to suppose that the conclusion there expressed was arrived at without deliberate consideration. It is insisted that the express powers of congress are limited in their exercise to the objects for which they were intrusted, and that, in order to justify congress in exercising any incidental or implied powers to carry into effect its express authority, it must appear that there is some relation between the means employed and the legitimare end. This is true; but, while the legitimate end of the exercise of the

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power in question is to furnish mail facilities for the people of the United States, it is also true that mail facilities are not required to be furnished for every purpose.

The states, before the...

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  • Smith v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • May 23, 1977
    ...v. United States, supra; United States v. Reidel, 402 U.S. 351, 91 S.Ct. 1410, 28 L.Ed.2d 813 (1971). See also In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93 (1892).12 Our decision that contemporary community standards must be applied by juries in accordance with their own understand......
  • United States Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub Co v. Burleson
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • March 7, 1921
    ...material which it carries, even though its regulations are quite unrelated to the business of transporting mails. In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 Sup. Ct. 374, 36 L. Ed. 93; Lewis Pub. Co. v. Morgan, 229 U.S. 288, 33 Sup. Ct. 867, 57 L. Ed. 1190. As stated in Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 7......
  • United State v. Kahriger
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • March 9, 1953
    ...548, 19 L.Ed. 482, depends partly on the alternate ground of the federal power to provide money for circulation. In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 111, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93, the use of the mails by papers that advertised the Louisiana Lottery was barred. The Lottery Case (Champion v. Ames) 1......
  • American Broadcasting Co. v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • February 5, 1953
    ...matter (lotteries), did not infringe the right of free speech or free press guaranteed by the First Amendment. In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93; Horner v. United States, 143 U.S. 207, 12 S.Ct. 407, 36 L.Ed. 126; Donaldson v. Read Magazine, 333 U.S. 178, 68 S.Ct. 591, 92......
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4 books & journal articles
  • THE DISEMBODIED FIRST AMENDMENT.
    • United States
    • Washington University Law Review Vol. 100 No. 3, February 2023
    • February 1, 2023
    ...of the press applied to the circulation of lottery advertisements. See Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. (6 Otto) 727 (1878); Ex parte Rapier, 143 U.S. 110 (1892). Although the Court upheld the federal statute banning use of the mail to circulate lottery ads, the Court did not hold that the First A......
  • REPUGNANT PRECEDENTS AND THE COURT OF HISTORY.
    • United States
    • Michigan Law Review Vol. 121 No. 4, February 2023
    • February 1, 2023
    ...is accompanied by the rejection of a specific factual holding. See Rice & Boeglin, supra note 209, at 921-22. (358.) In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 133 (359.) Pub. Clearing House v. Coyne, 194 U.S. 497, 507 (1904); see also United States ex rel. Milwaukee Soc. Democratic Publ'g Co. v. Burl......
  • The Fiction of the First Freedom
    • United States
    • Political Research Quarterly No. 6-2, June 1953
    • June 1, 1953
    ...v. Board of Public Works, 341 U.S. 716 (1951); Wieman v. Updegraff, 73 S. Ct. 215 (1953). 8 Re Jackson, 96 U.S. 727 (1878); Re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110 (1892); Horner v. United States, 143 207 (1892); Lewis Publishing Company v. Morgan, 229 U.S. 288 (1913); United States ex rel. Milwaukee Socia......
  • Crimes Mala in Se: An Equity-Based Definition
    • United States
    • Criminal Justice Policy Review No. 17-3, September 2006
    • September 1, 2006
    ...Securities Company, 197 U.S. 244 (1905).Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110 (1892).Kleinig, J. (1978). Crime and the concept of harm. American Philosophical Quarterly,15, 27-36.Klotter, J. (1983). Criminal law. Cinci......

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