Judge Lowell and the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights: A Paper Read Before the Massachusetts Historical Society, April 16, 1874

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J. Wilson and Son, 1874 - Constitutional law - 9 pages

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Page 6 - That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Page 9 - Therefore, no male person, born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person, as a servant, slave or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years, nor female, in like manner, after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are bound by their own consent, after they arrive to such age, or bound by law, for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.
Page 6 - That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienablc rights, among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Page 5 - ALL men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights ; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties ; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property ; in tin P., that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
Page 7 - All men are born equally free. The rights they possess at their births are equal, and of the same kind. Some of those rights are alienable, and may be parted with for an equivalent. Others are unalienable and inherent, and of that importance, that no equivalent can be received in exchange.
Page 9 - Negroes to a state of slavery to these principles, unless we first degrade them below the rank of human beings, not only politically but also physically and morally. The Roman lawyers look upon those only properly as persons who are free — putting slaves into the rank of goods and chattels; and the policy of our legislature, as well as the practice of slave-holders in America in general, seems conformable to that idea...
Page 8 - Stat. of 1882, c. 112, § 214. In the first reported case under this statute, it was held by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts that the liability of the railroad company was not restricted to a building by the side of its road, which the very particles of fire emanating from the engines fell upon and kindled a flame in, but extended to a building across a street, set on...
Page 3 - Biographical Dictionary, that he was a member of the Convention and of the Committee for drafting the plan, &c., and that he suggested and urged on the Committee the introduction of the clause, taken from the Declaration of Independence a little varied, which virtually put an end...
Page 8 - I can find produced by my author for the proof of the natural liberty of the people. It is thus framed: "That God hath given or ordained power, is evident by Scripture; but God hath given it to no particular person, because by nature all men are equal, therefore he hath given power to the people or multitude.
Page 8 - New-Hampshire established their constitutution in 1783; and in the first article of the declaration of rights, it is asserted, that " all men are born equally free and independent." The construction there put on this clause is, that all who have been born since the constitution, are free ; but that those who were in slavery before, are not liberated by it. By reason of this construction, (which, by the way, I do not intend to vindicate}, the blacks in that state are in the late census distinguished...

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