Ex parte Rapier. Ex parte Dupre, (two cases.)
| Decision Date | 01 February 1892 |
| Citation | 36 L.Ed. 93,143 U.S. 110,12 S.Ct. 374 |
| Parties | Ex parte RAPIER. Ex parte DUPRE, (two cases.) |
| Court | U.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]
We are constrained by the circumstances in which we find ourselves placed by the illness and death of Mr. Justice
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
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 Union was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Smith v. United States
... ... substantive limitations for obscenity cases, they cannot declare what community standards ... addresses in Mount Ayr and Guthrie Center, two communities in southern Iowa. This was done at ... See, e. g., Ex parte Jackson, 96 U.S. 727, 736, 24 L.Ed. 877 (1878); ... See also In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93 (1892) ... ...
-
United States Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub Co v. Burleson
... ... holding of the Postmaster General and of the two lower courts which we are reviewing ... plenary power over the mails (Ex parte Jackson, 96 U. S. 727, 24 L. Ed. 877; Public ... Ct. 332, 63 L. Ed. 717, and cases cited ... In the answer ... In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 Sup. Ct. 374, 36 L. Ed. 93; ... ...
-
United State v. Kahriger
... ... unconstitutionality of the tax is asserted on two grounds ... Page 24 ... First, it is said ... In the License Tax Cases, 5 Wall. 462, 18 L.Ed. 497, the controversy arose ... In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 111, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93, ... ...
-
American Broadcasting Co. v. United States
... ... the several actions, it was agreed that the cases could be and should be presented to the Court in ... The contestants are of two kinds: telephone participants and studio ... In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93; Horner ... ...
-
THE DISEMBODIED FIRST AMENDMENT.
...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.
...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
...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
...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......