Report to the Attorney General on Economic Liberties Protected by the Constitution

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U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy, 1988 - Clauses (Law) - 139 pages

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Page 4 - The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into...
Page 5 - Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.
Page 51 - And, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made or have force in the said territory that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud previously formed.
Page 84 - Where the statute regulates evenhandedly to effectuate a legitimate local public interest, and its effects on interstate commerce are only incidental, it will be upheld unless the burden imposed on such commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits.
Page 125 - Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the extent and boundaries of the police power, and however difficult it may be to render a satisfactory definition of it, there seems to be no doubt that it does extend to the protection of the lives, health, and property of the citizens, and to the preservation of good order and the public morals.
Page 20 - Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws.
Page 79 - The Constitution does not speak of freedom of contract. It speaks of liberty and prohibits the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.
Page 7 - THE third absolute right, inherent in every Englishman, is that of property : which consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution, save only by the laws of the land.
Page 13 - ... no man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his Peers, or the law of the land; and should the Public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property, or to demand his particular Services, full compensation shall be made for the same...
Page 96 - The general rule at least is, that while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking.

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