Sec. 8.-Powers of Congress Powers of the States Cl. 4.-Bankruptcies In the absence of congressional action the States may enact insolvent laws. It is the actual exercise of the power by Congress to pass bankrupt laws, and not the mere grant to Congress, that precludes its exercise on the part of the States. State laws are not abrogated by the passage of a national act; they continue in force up to the time when the national act goes into effect, and discharges granted under them are valid, and where a State court has acquired jurisdiction in insolvency it may proceed to judgment. As to future cases under State laws, however, a national act suspends all jurisdiction upon becoming operative. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 196. Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 264. Cook v. Moffatt, 5 How. 295. Bank of Tennessee v. Horn, 17 How. 157. Ex parte Christy, 3 How. 318. McMillan v. McNeill, 4 Wheat. 209. Farmers', etc., Bank v. Smith, 6 Wheat. 131. Planters' Bank v. Sharp, 6 How. 328. Williams v. Bruffy, 96 U. S. 184. The repeal of acts of Congress in regard to bankruptcy removes the obstacle to the operation of the insolvency laws of the State, and does not render necessary their reenactment. Butler v. Goreley, 146 U. S. 303. While a State insolvent law which discharges both the person of the debtor and his future acquisitions of property is not a law impairing the obligations of contracts as to debts contracted subsequent to its passage, the certificate of discharge can not be pleaded in bar of an action by a citizen of another State. Boyle v. Zacharie, 6 Pet. 635. Suydam v. Broadnax, 14 Pet. 74. Clause 5.-COINAGE, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES. The Congress shall have power To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.' Definition of Coinage Coinage is the conversion of metal into money by governmental direction and authority. It means to mold into form a See also Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 2, "To borrow money," p. 81, and Art I, sec. 10, cl. 1, "No State shall coin money, emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts," pp. 271-273, Sec. 8.-Powers of Congress Cl. 5.-Coinage metallic substance of intrinsic value and stamp on it its legal value. Griswold v. Hepburn, 63 Ky. (2 Duvall), 20. Exclusive Power of Congress This clause confers upon Congress the exclusive power to coin money and regulate its value as well as to regulate the value of foreign coin. It was so delegated to create and preserve the uniformity and purity of the standard of value and was founded on public necessity. Had this power been left to the States there would have been no national coinage and no constant or uniform value of the coin. Congress has from time to time exercised its authority under this clause, the first act being passed April 2, 1792. U. S. v. Marigold, 9 How. 568. Act of Congress of July 13, 1866, held constitutional. In the constitutional exercise of its power to provide a currency Congress may restrain, by suitable enactments, the circulation as money of any notes not issued under its own authority. Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 549. See also National Bank v. U. S., 101 U. S. 1. Briscoe v. Kentucky Bank, 11 Pet. 257. Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 49. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 193. Ling Su Fan v. U. S., 218 U. S. 302. Farm loan act of 1917, making such banks depositaries of public money and authorizing their employment as financial agents of Government, etc., held within power of Congress. Smith v. Kansas City Title Co., 255 U. S. 180. Purpose of Clause The purpose of the framers of the Constitution in conferring upon Congress the power to coin money was to provide a currency which would have the same legal value in all the States, and this power was expressly denied to the States. The Constitution does not prescribe what metals shall be coined or say that their legal value, after being coined, shall correspond with their intrinsic value. Congress can say what metal shall be coined, fix its purity, and its value as money in its relation to its value as bullion. Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 545. Details of Coinage The power of Congress to enact legislation concerning the coinage of money extends even to the details of the subject and to the conduct and transactions of individuals concerning it. Congress has the power under this clause to authorize the issuing Sec. 8.-Powers of Congress Cl. 5.-Coinage of coins of the same denominations as those already in existence and circulating as money, but of less intrinsic value, because they contain less of the precious metals, and consequently have less weight, and thus enable debtors to discharge their obligations by paying in coins of less real value. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 18. Power to Issue Treasury Notes There can be no question of the power of Congress to emit bills of credit, to make them receivable in payment of debts to itself, to fit them for use in all transactions of commerce, to provide for their redemption, to make them a currency uniform in value and description, and convenient and usable for circulation. Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 542. Weights and Measures The power to fix the standard of weights and measures, while granted to Congress by this clause, has never been expressly denied to the States, and on the principle that it is not the grant of power to Congress, but its actual exercise of that power that makes its action exclusive, the States may exercise this power in the absence of congressional legislation. Any action by Congress in the matter, of course, would render any conflicting State legislation void. Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 49. Sturges v. Crowninshield. 4 Wheat. 193. Compare The Miantinomi, 3 Wall. Jr. (C. C.) 46. Clause 6.-COUNTERFEITING. The Congress shall have power To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States. Powers of Congress Act of Congress providing for the punishment of persons making or passing counterfeit coin of the United States held constitutional. The power to coin money being given to Congress, it must carry with it the correlative power of protecting the creature and object of that power. U. S. v. Marigold, 9 How. 566. Sec. 8.-Powers of Congress Cl. 6.-Counterfeiting The term "securities" includes Treasury notes and notes of a United States bank, and the power to punish counterfeiting of securities extends to securities issued by foreign countries or under their authority. U. S. v. Howell, 11 Wall. 437. U. S. v. Turner, 7 Pet. 136. U. S. v. Arjona, 120 U. S. 479. Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 535. Congress may provide punishment for counterfeiting foreign coins made current by United States laws, but the coin counterfeited must have been included in the act of Congress. The offenses of counterfeiting coins and of passing counterfeit money are essentially different, the former being an offense against the Government by which individuals may be affected and the latter a private wrong by which the Government may be remotely reached, if at all. U. S. v. Gardner, 10 Pet. 618. Ex parte Wilson, 114 U. S. 423. Powers of the States The distinction drawn between counterfeiting coin and passing counterfeit coin is the ground for the holding that the power of Congress to punish persons who pass counterfeit money is not exclusive. State courts have asserted the authority of the States to punish counterfeiting. Fox v. Ohio, 5 How. 433. U. S. v. Marigold, 9 How. 560. The same act of counterfeiting may be punishable under the laws of the States as well as of the United States. Sexton v. California, 189 U. S. 319. Offense Against the United States and the State If one passes counterfeited coin of the United States within a State, it may be an offense against the United States and the State; the United States because it discredits the coin, and the State because of the fraud upon him to whom it is passed. U. S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 550. Interpretation of the Decision in Fox v. Ohio In U. S. v. Yates (6 Fed. 861) the court said: I do not see how the question under consideration must not be considered as disposed of by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Fox v. Ohio (5 How. 410), where the power of a State to punish the act of passing counterfeit coin of the United States with intent to defraud was called in question and upheld upon the ground that it was a mere cheat. It will not be pretended, I think, that any act such as the act of passing counterfeit coin is described to be by the Supreme Court in the case of Fox v. Ohio was by the common law deemed Sec. 8.-Powers of Congress Cl. 7.-Post Offices is in no to be an infamous crime. The effect of the decision wise modified by the subsequent decision of the same court in U. S. v. Marigold (9 How. 560), where the power of the United States to punish the act of passing counterfeit coin of the United States was upheld upon the ground that the court traced "both the offense and the authority to punish it to the power given by the Constitution to coin money, and to the correspondent and necessary power and obligation to protect and to preserve in its purity this constitutional currency for the benefit of the Nation," for in U. S. v. Marigold the court is careful to reaffirm, in express terms, all the doctrines declared in Fox v. Ohio. But see Ex parte Houghton, 8 Fed. 897. As to the power of Congress to punish the offense of counterfeiting foreign securities, see Article I, section 8, clause 10. Clause 7.-POST OFFICES. The Congress shall have power Post Offices and post Roads. Power of Congress In General To establish When the power to establish post offices and post roads was surrendered to the Congress it was as a complete power, and the grant carried with it the right to exercise all the powers which made that power effective. It is not necessary that Congress should have power to deal with crime or immorality within the States in order to maintain that it possesses the power to forbid the use of the mails in aid of the perpetration of crime or immorality. In re Rapier, 143 U. S. 110. The rule that in the enforcement of provisions guaranteeing civil rights Congress is limited to the enactment of legislation corrective of any wrong committed by the States and not by the individuals does not apply to those cases in which Congress is clothed with direct and plenary powers of legislation over the whole subject, accompanied with an express or implied denial of such powers to the States, as in the regulation of commerce, the coining of money, the establishment of post offices and post roads, the declaring of war, etc. In these cases Congress has power to pass laws for regulating the subjects specified in every detail, and the conduct and transactions of individuals in respect thereof. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 18. The power vested in Congress has been practically construed, since the foundation of the Government, to authorize not merely the designation of the routes over which the mail shall be carried and the offices where letters and other documents shall be received to be distributed or forwarded but the carriage of the |