Proceedings, Washington State Bar Association 13th Annual Convention, July 1901

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901. Excerpt: ... THE INSULAR QUESTIONS AND THEIR SOLUTION BY THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. DOES THE CONSTITUTION FOLLOW THE FLAG? BY JOSEPH SHIPPEN, OF SEATTLE. The recent acquisition by the United States of large, productive and populous islands ceded to us by Spain as a result of our successful war for the liberation of Cuba, has given inevitable rise to many difficult, important and far-reaching questions affecting the rights and liberties of these new possessions, the reciprocal relations they bear to our national government, and the powers our government can exercise over them. In such a juncture, the natural sequence has been followed. First, the military authority had to meet instanter the exigencies as they arose; next, the Executive Department had to devise and enforce some regulations for order and protection; soon the law-making power of Congress was brought into requisition, and ultimately the determination of controversies, and settlement of principles were referred in cases involving public and private right, under the accepted admirable system of our free constitutional government, to the arbitrament of the Supreme Court of the United States. All these governmental powers have been invoked and exercised, and partial judicial solutions of the pressing questions have already been attained. The purpose of this address is to present a statement of the Insular Tariff Cases decided by the United States Supreme Court on the 27th day of last May, giving questions involved, how they arose, the antagonistic contentions, and an analysis of the decisions as far as rendered, with reference also to the dissenting opinions given. The wide range of argument of most able advocates, the divergent views of the justices comprising the Court, and the confusion in the ...