THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Void where prohibited by law

"No legislative act contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above the master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people; that men, acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid. It is not to be supposed that the Constitution could intend to enable the representatives of the people to substitute their will to that of their constituents. A Constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by judges as fundamental law. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, the Constitution is to be preferred to the statute."
(A.Hamilton, Federalist Papers #78 See also Warning v. The Mayor of Savannah, 60 Georgia, P.93; First Trust Co. v. Smith, 277 SW 762, Marbury v. Madison, 2 L Ed 60; and Am.Juris. 2d Constitutional Law, section 177-178)

"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void."
(Marbury vs. Madison)

"It cannot be presumed that any clause in the Constitution is intended to be without effect..."
(Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803)

"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
(Abraham Lincoln)

"Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them."
(Miranda vs. Arizona)

"When any court violates the clean and unambiguous language of the constitution, a fraud is perpetrated and no one is bound to obey it."
(State v. Sutton 63 Minn 167, 65 NW 262, 30 LRA 630)

"Constitutional rights may not be infringed simply because the majority of the people choose that they be."
( Westbrook v. Mihaly 2 C3d 756)

"Under our form of government, the legislature is not supreme...like other departments of government, it can only exercise such powers as have been delegated to it, and when it steps beyond that boundary, its acts, like those of the most humble magistrate in the state who transcends his jurisdiction, are utterly void."
( Billings v. Hall 7 CA 1)

"If the legislature clearly misinterprets a Constitutional provision, the frequent repetition of the wrong will not create a right."
( Amos v. Mosley, 77 SO 619. Also see Kingsley v. Metril, 99 NW 1044)

"Where the meaning of the Constitution is clear and unambiguous, there can be no resort to construction to attribute to the founders a purpose or intent NOT MANIFEST IN ITS LETTER."
(Norris v. Baltimore 192 A 531)

"An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed."
( Norton vs. Shelby County, 118 US 425 p.442)

"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffec- tive for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of it's enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it."
"No on is bound to obey an unconstitutional law, and no courts are bound to enforce it."
(16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177, late 2d, Sec 256)

"We find it intolerable that one constitutional right should have to be surrendered in order to assert another."
( Simmons v. US, 390 US 389 (1968))

"The state cannot diminish rights of the people."
(Hurtado v. California 110 US 516)

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