The Federalist Papers - Alexander Hamilton [26]
NO. 78: THE JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT 463
Mode of appointment—Tenure—Judiciary the least dangerous branch—Need of complete independence under a limited Constitution—Authority to pronounce on the constitutionality of the laws—The legislature should not be the judge of its own powers—Interpretation of the laws the peculiar province of the judiciary—Need of independence on this account—Independence required for judiciary as guardians of the Constitution and of private rights as well—Wisdom of requiring good behavior as the tenure.
NO. 79: THE JUDICIARY CONTINUED 471
A fixed provision for the support of the judiciary necessary to their independence—Responsibility of the judiciary—Judges liable to impeachment—Cannot be made removable for inability—Reasons for this—Comparison with constitution of New York.
NO. 80: THE POWERS OF THE JUDICIARY 474
To what cases the judicial authority ought to extend—To all cases which arise from duly enacted laws of the Union; which concern the execution of the provisions of the Constitution; in which the United States is a party; which involve the peace of the Union in foreign relations, or when two States, or a State and the citizens of another State, or the citizens of different States, are parties; which originate on the high seas or are of admirality jurisdiction; in which State tribunals cannot be supposed to be implicated—To what cases authority of judiciary will extend under proposed Constitution—Statement of constitutional provisions—These provisions conform to what the powers of the judiciary ought to be—Propriety of delegating equity jurisdiction.
NO. 8l: THE JUDICIARY CONTINUED, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE JUDICIARY AUTHORITY 480
Propriety of establishing one court of final and supreme jurisdiction—Propriety of delegating judicial authority to a distinct department—Objections to this considered—This delegation of authority secures more completely the separation of the judiciary from the legislature, recognizes more fully the principle of good behavior as a tenure, secures greater legal ability, and removes the judiciary from party strife—The example of certain of the States—That no legislature can rectify judicial mistakes except as to future action, and the danger of encroachments by the judiciary on the legislature, considered—Propriety of constituting inferior courts—Relief to Supreme Court—State courts not fit for this—Advantage of dividing United States into judicial districts—Manner in which authority should be distributed—Original jurisdiction of Supreme Court—Original jurisdiction of inferior courts—Appellate jurisdiction of Supreme Court.
NO. 82: THE JUDICIARY CONTINUED 490
The jurisdiction of the State courts on federal questions—The State courts will retain all that is not exclusively delegated—Decision of causes arising from a particular regulation may be delegated by Congress exclusively to Supreme Court—Relation between State and federal courts when they have concurrent jurisdiction—An appeal will lie from State courts to the Supreme Court—The appellate jurisdiction of the inferior federal courts.
NO. 83: THE JUDICIARY CONTINUED IN RELATION TO TRIAL BY JURY 494
Objection that there is no provision in the proposed Constitution for trial by jury in civil cases considered—True meaning of maxims on which this objection rests—Importance of right of trial by jury considered—Criminal and civil cases—Jury system in different States—Difficulty of establishing a general rule—Impropriety of such a general rule in certain cases—The proposition of Massachusetts—The provisions of the New York constitution—The proposition that the jury system should be established in all cases whatever—Concluding remarks.
NO. 84: CERTAIN GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS