No. 212.

Book 1, part 2, tit. 1, chap. 2, sec. 1, § 2, art. 2.

No. 214.

212. Citizens of the United States may remove from the country until restrained by congress, and no citizen can be compelled to return to the country, except for the purpose of answering for some crime committed by him. He cannot, however, cast off his allegiance.

Art. 2.-Of the liberty of thought.

213. The free communication of his thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: every citizen may speak, write and freely print what he thinks, being responsible to the law for an abuse of this liberty. This is a natural right, which cannot be infringed by congress. (a)

Members of congress and of the state legislatures, and counsel exgaged in cases in court, may freely speak whatever they think proper without being responsible to any one, except, perhaps, in the case of counsel, where they maliciously utter slander without proof or instruction from their clients. (b) The right, however, does not extend beyond the mere speaking, for if a member of congress were to print his speech, containing libellous matter, he would be held responsible.(c)

214. By liberty of the press, is understood the right to print and publish the truth, from good motives, and for justifiable ends.(d)

The constitution provides, that no law shall be made abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. (e) The abuse of the freedom of the press is punished criminally by indictment-civilly, by action; for it is evident, that if not restrained within proper bounds, or if the publisher were not responsible for libellous publications, the liberty of the press would soon become so licentious, that it would destroy itself.

(a) Const. Am. art. 1 (b) 3 Chit. Pr. 887. (d) People v. Crosswell, 3 John. Cas. 394.

(c) Bac. Ab. Libel, B. (e) Am. art. 1.

On

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Book 1, part 2, tit. 1, chap. 2, sec. 1, § 3.

No. 216.

the other hand, if liable to a censorship, its benefits to the public would be wholly lost.

Art. 3.-Liberty of Conscience.

215. Happily for our country, no sect has a preference; they are all permitted to exercise their religion according to the dictates of their consciences; and, as a guarantee for this, the constitution declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."(a) To attempt to regulate the religious belief of a man, under pains and penalties, is a grievous tyranny, calculated to excite persecution and civil war.

It is not

more reasonable to command a man to believe what does not appear evident to him, than to order the eye to see what it cannot perceive. Man is not to be constrained in his belief; he must be enlightened, convinced, and persuaded.

§3. Of the right to enjoy property.

216. The right to enjoy property, is the third absolute right of man. Considered as a natural and absolute right, it is the faculty of enjoying peaceably the property which we possess, without being constrained to part with it, without our consent.

Considered as a civil right, it is the faculty of acquiring and possessing property, and of alienating it as we please, either by our own contract, or by last will and testament, as the law prescribes.

Property, which owes its origin to natural law, has received its perfection from the civil or municipal law, by which it has become permanent. This will be the subject of our second book, when the origin and progress of property will be explained.

The right of property, includes the faculty of receiving that which is cast upon us by descent or succession, devises, legacies, and gifts; to transmit it in

(a) Art. 6, s. 3.

No. 217.

Book 1, part 2, tit. 2, chap. 1.

No. 221.

the same way; to acquire it by prescription, and the like.

Thus this right, absolute in its origin in society, takes a relative character. It is subject to almost an infinity of modifications, which render it so complicated, that the greatest number of disputes or contests, which arise among men, have property for their object.

SECTION 2.—OF RELATIVE RIGHTS.

217. Relative rights are public or private.

§ 1. Of public relative rights.

218. Public relative rights, are those which subsist between the citizens and the government, as the right of protection on the part of the people, and the duty of allegiance which is due by the people to the government. These include the political rights, such as the right of suffrage, which each citizen may exercise, and that of being eligible to all offices.

§ 2. Of private relative rights.

219. Private relative rights, are so called in contradistinction to public relative rights. These are very numerous, and to make a complete list, would not be an easy task; among them are the reciprocal rights of husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, master and servant; the right of inheritance or succession, to receive a donation inter vivos, or by will, etc. These are considered in another place.

TITLE II.-OF THE LOSS OF CIVIL RIGHTS.

220. The enjoyment of civil rights is attached to the quality of citizen of the United States. This quality is subject to be lost by abdication or renunciation of the right of citizen, or by civil death.

CHAPTER I.-OF THE LOSS OF CIVIL RIGHTS BY EXPATRIATION.

221. It is the doctrine of the English common law, that a subject cannot be released from his allegiance to

No. 222.

Book 1, part 2, tit. 3.

No. 223.

the crown, without the consent of the government; and that no man can, by his own act, throw off the duty which he owes to his native country by adopting

another.

In the United States, this question has not yet been decided by the supreme court, but the better opinion seems to be, that a citizen cannot cast off his allegiance without the consent of the government. (a) Yet the naturalization laws require that on becoming a citizen of the United States, an alien shall renounce and abjure his former allegiance, without requiring any proof that his sovereign has released him from it.

If, however, congress should by law authorize expatriation, the citizen expatriated would, by that act, become an alien, and would be entiled to no other civil rights than those enjoyed by an alien.

CHAPTER II.-OF THE LOSS OF CIVIL RIGHTS IN CONSEQUENCE OF JUDICIAL CONDEMNATIONS.

222. Civil death is the state of a person who, though possessing natural life, has lost all his civil rights by a judicial condemnation, and is, as to them, considered dead.(b)

TITLE III.-OF THE EVIDENCE OF THE CIVIL STATE.

223. After having examined how civil rights are acquired and lost, it is proper now to consider how the civil state is proved.

This may be done by proof of possession, by witnesses, by private writings and by public registers. And this proof relates to the birth, marriage, or death of the individual.

When written evidence, made by public authority, or a register such as is recognized by law, exists as to

(a) Case of Isaac Williams, cited in 2 Cranch, 82, n.; Murray v. The Charming Betsey, 2 Cranch, 64; Talbot v. Janson, 3 Dall. 133; The Santissima Trinidad, 7 Wheat. 283 ; Inglis v. Trustees, etc., 3 Pet. 99; Shanks v. Dupont, 3 Pet. 242.

(b) Platner v. Sherwood, 6 Johns. C. R. 118; Troup v. Wood, 4 Johns. C. R. 228, 260; Co. Litt. 130 a; 1 Bl. Com. 132, 133.

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Book 1, part 2, tit. 4.

No. 227.

the time and circumstances of the birth, marriage, or death of an individual, it must be produced as being the best evidence of which the case will admit, but when such written evidence does not exist, parol evidence may be given to establish those facts.

224. Proof of the birth of a child may be made by giving evidence of possession. When a child lives with his reputed father and mother, as such, proof of these facts will, in general, be sufficient prima facie to establish the fact of his legitimacy, and that he is what his condition represents him to be. His civil state may also be proved by the testimony of witnesses, as where the witness was present at the accouchement; or by private writings, such as entries in a Bible; or by the correspondence of deceased members of his family. (a) It may also be established by public registers, authorized by law to be kept.(b)

225. The civil state of marriage is proved either by direct evidence, establishing the fact, or by evidence of collateral facts and circumstances, from which its existence may be inferred. What is evidence for this purpose will be more fully considered when we come to examine what are the sufficient proofs of a marriage.(c)

TITLE IV.-OF THE DOMICIL.

226. It is in the place of his domicil, that a man exercises his civil and political rights. After having shown how he acquires the enjoyment of the rights which constitute the civil state, and how those rights are proved, it is now proper to point out the rules which fix his domicil.

227. Domicil is the place where a person has established his ordinary dwelling, without a present intention of removal.(d)

(a) 1 Greenl. Ev. § 104; Phil. & Am. on Ev. 229; 1 Phil. Ev. 216; Doe v. Griffin, 15 East, 203.

(b) Vide post, n. 311.

(c) Vide post, n. 262. (d) The Venus, 8 Cranch, 278; Thorndyke v. City of Boston, 1 Metc. 242; 1 Binn. 349, n.; Foster . Hall. 4 Humph. 346.