A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is...If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty.

That the people have an original right to establish, for their future government, such principles as, in their opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the basis, on which the whole American fabric has been erected.... The principles, therefore, so established, are deemed fundamental. And as the authority, from which they proceed, is supreme ... they are designed to be permanent.... The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the constitution is written.

The most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.

The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.

In a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen.

Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.