atural right, that meaning, and _only that_ meaning,
which is consistent with right, shall be attributed to them--unless
other parts of the instrument overrule that interpretation.

Another rule, (if indeed it be not the same,) is, that no language,
except that which is peremptory, and no implication, except one that is
inevitable, shall be held to authorize or sanction any thing contrary to
natural right.

Another rule is, that no _extraneous or historical evidence_ shall be
admitted to fix upon a statute an unjust or immoral meaning, when the
words themselves of the act are susceptible of an innocent one.

One of the reasons of these stringent and inflexible rules, doubtless
is, that judges have always known that, in point of fact, natural
justice was itself law, and that nothing inconsistent with it could be
made law, even by the most explicit and peremptory language that
legislatures could employ.--But judges have always, in this country and
in England, been dependent upon the executive and the legislature for
their appointments and salaries, and been amenable to the legislature by
impeachment. And as the executive and legislature have always enacted
more or less statutes, and had more or less purposes to accomplish, that
were inconsistent with natural right, judges have seen that it would be
impossible for them to retain their offices, and at the same time
maintain the integrity of the law against the will of those in whose
power they were. It is natural also that the executive should appoint,
and that the legislature should approve the appointment of no one for
the office of judge, whose integrity they should suppose would stand in
the way of their purposes.--The consequence has been that all judges,
(probably without exception,) though they have not dared deny, have yet
in practice yielded the vital principle of law; and have succumbed to
the arbitrary mandates of the other departments of the government, so
far as to carry out their enactments, though inconsistent with natural
right. But, as if sensible of the degradation and criminality of so
doing, they have made a stand at the first point at which they could
make it, without bringing themselves in a direct collision with those on
whom they were dependent. And that point is, that they will administer,
as law, no statute, that is contrary to natural right, unless its
language be so explicit and peremptory, that there is no way of evading
its authority, but by