The Green Bag
38
covenants of the leases b means of which the executive officers of the nited States actin under the authority of this legislation, wil attempt to regulate and control the same industries. The ends sought to be accom plished are neither fairly nor legitimately with in the sec of the Constitution, and conse quently t e enactment of the proposed measures would be a plain perversion of the ower of Con ess to dispose of the public ands of the nited States." “Violation by a State of the Conditions of its Enabling Act." By Julien C. Monnet. 10 Columbia Law Review 591 (Nov.). This article is concerned with the question of the validity of one of those conditions which Congress has seen fit to impose, in the
enabling acts of the last quarter century, upon territories seeking statehood, preliminary to their admission into the Union. The state of Oklahoma was granted state hood on certain such conditions, one of which was that the state capital should be located at Guthrie until 1913. The constitutional convention of Oklahoma was required to accept this condition “by ordinance irrevo cable," and did so accept it, without inserting it into its written constitution.
On June 11,
1910, however, the ople of Oklahoma voted to locate the capita at Oklahoma City. The writer, who is of the State University of Oklahoma, contends that this condition was not binding upon the people of Oklahoma. as it im aired the sovereignty of a free and indepen ent state, and he makes a most vigorous and able argument strongly enforced by citations of authorities, in support of this heterodox and doubtful position. Government. "The Constitution in Writ ing." By J. H. Morgan, Professor of Consti tutional Law, University of London. teenth Century, v. 68, p. 765 (Nov.).
than a people which is not, and, indeed. in Continental countries it seems to be assumed that whatever power is not expressly denied to the executive is reserved by it—the power of legislation included. There are few con tinental governments which do not possess, independently of the constitution, an almost unrestricted power of issuing ‘.N'otvemrd nungen,’ or emergency decrees. In Prussia the courts cannot question them, nor is it necessary for the legislature to sanction them." "Constitutional Law in 1909-1910." By Prof. Eugene Wambaugh, Harvard Law School. 4 American Political Science Review 483 (Nov.).
Professor Wambaugh finds that the Su preme Court decided at its last term no less than sixty-five constitutional cases, the rules
in which he concisely states and classifies. The most im rtant decision of the year he finds to be ntemational Textbook v. Pigg, 217 U. S. 91, in which it was held not only that the business of a correspondence school is
interstate
commerce,
but
that
a
state
cannot require a foreign corporation wishing to engage in interstate commerce to obtain a license as a condition precedent. This de cision is briefly discussed. The practical result of the doctrine, it seems, must be one of the following:— "(1) National legislation placing forei interstate commerce co
rations under t e
control, to some extent, 0 the several states— in short, legislation resembling the Wilson
Act as to original packages, or— “(2) National licensing of corporations organized in this country or abroad for the purpose of engaging in interstate or foreign commerce, or— “(3) National incorporation."
Nine
"The truth is that the importance of Written constitutions has been enormously exaggerated. By the time a country has reached the stage at which a written consti tution is possible, it no longer needs one. Most of the written constitutions of the world are either delegations of power by the soverei n to new communities, as in the case of our éolonies, or else the offs ring of revolu
tions, as in France; or else ederal treaties between old political societies, as in the case of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany. In all these cases there is the creation of a new state rather than a distribu tion of power in a pre existin one, as is the position with us today——and t erefore analo gies fail us. Had it been a case of an old state like our own in possession of institutions, a written constitution would not have been needed. Even as it is, the constitutions of these societies do not embrace the whole field of constitutional law, and they all presume
a pre-existent body of law. . . . ' _ "A people living under written constitutions may be more exposed to arbitrary government
"Popular Election of United States Sena tors." By John William Perrin. North American Review, v. 192, p. 799 (Dec). The agitation of the question of direct election of United States Senators is not stitution new, but itself." "is almost The asattempts old as the to bring Con~ about a departure from the regular method of election, in 1826, in 1835, in the fifties and
subsequently, are reviewed. The treatment is historical rather than argumentative. "Judicial Control over the Amendment of State Constitutions." By W. F. Dodd. 10 Columbia Law Reflew 618 (Nov.). This article is concerned with the way in which courts exercise judicial control over the process of amendment, having of course no jurisdiction over the substance or subject matter of the amendments adopted. The treatment is extended and minute, the article forming a part of the author's forthcoming work to be issued by the Johns Hopkins Press, on “The Revision and Amendment of State Constitutions."
