John Marshall Quotes

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Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.

John Marshall

No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States and compounding the American people into one common mass.

John Marshall

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

John Marshall

John Marshall

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Born: September 24, 1755

Died: July 6, 1835 (aged 79)

Bio: John Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Known for:

The life of George Washington (1805)
Complete constitutional decisions

Most used words:

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