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[Cite as Maxwell v. Dow, 176 U.S. 581 (1899). NOTE: This decision concerns whether the Fifth Amendment right to grand jury clause and Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury were "privileges and immunities" of the Fourteenth Amendment and made enforceable against State action. Commenting on different Supreme Court opinions which held various individual rights to be unenforceable against state infringement, the majority opinion cites Pressor "that the Second Amendment to the Constitution, in regard to the right of the people to bear arms, is a limitation only on the power of Congress and the National Government, and not of the States. It was therein said, however, that as all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force of the National Government, the States could not prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the General Government." (P. 597) Justice Harlan argued in his dissenting opinion that the Constitution was opposed because "it did not contain a Bill of Rights guarding the fundamental guarantees of life, liberty and property against the unwarranted exercise of power by the National Government." To counter this opposition, amendments were promised "to guard against the infringement ... of the essential rights of American freemen.... These amendments have ever since been regarded as the National Bill of Rights." Harlan enumerates "some of those amendments" but does not mention the Second or Seventh Amendments. (P. 607. Compare Justice Harlan's dissent in Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 542-543 (1961) (list of individual rights includes the right to arms and similarly omits others.)) See also P. 615 where Justice Harlan writes, "To say of any people that they do not enjoy those [first ten amendments] is to say they do not enjoy real freedom."]

MAXWELL v. DOW.

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF UTAH.

No. 384. Argued December 4, 1899.--Decided February 26, 1900.

The decision in Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516, that the words "due process of law" in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States do not necessarily require an indictment by a grand jury in a prosecution by a State for murder, has been often affirmed, and is now reaffirmed and applied to this case.

The privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States do not necessarily include all the rights protected by the first eight amendments to the Federal Constitution against the powers of the Federal Government.

The trial of a person accused as a criminal by a jury of only eight persons instead of twelve, and his subsequent imprisonment after conviction do not abridge his privileges and immunities under the Constitution as a citizen of the United States and do not deprive him of his liberty without due process of law.

Whether a trial in criminal cases not capital shall be by a jury composed of eight instead of twelve jurors, and whether, in case of an infamous crime, a person shall be only liable to be tried after presentment or indictment by a grand jury, are proper to be determined by the citizens of each State for themselves, and do not come within the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution so long as all persons within the jurisdiction of the State are made liable to be proceeded against by the same kind of procedure, and to have the same kind of trial, and the equal protection of the laws is secured to them.(p.582)

The statement of the case is in the opinion of the court.

Mr. J. W. N. Whitecotton for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Alexander C. Bishop for defendant in error. Mr. William A. Lee was on the brief.

Mr. Justice Peckham delivered the opinion of the court.

On the 27th of June, 1898, an information was filed against the plaintiff in error by the prosecuting attorney of the county, in a state court of the State of Utah, charging him with the crime of robbery committed within the county in May, 1898. In September, 1898, he was tried before a jury composed of but eight jurors, and convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for eighteen years, and since that time has been confined in prison, undergoing the sentence of the state court.

In May, 1899, he applied to the Supreme Court of the State for a writ of habeas corpus, and alleged in his sworn petition that he was a natural-born citizen of the United States, and that his imprisonment was unlawful, because he was prosecuted under an information instead of by indictment by a grand jury, and was tried by a jury composed of eight instead of twelve jurors. He specially set up and claimed (1) that to prosecute him by information abridged his privileges and immunities as a citizen of the United States, under article 5 of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and also violated section 1 of article 14 of those amendments; (2) that a trial by jury of only eight persons abridged his privileges and immunities as a citizen of the United States, under article 6, and also violated section 1 of article 14 of such amendments; (3) that a trial by such a jury and his subsequent imprisonment by reason of the verdict of that jury deprived him of his liberty without due process of law, in violation of section 1 of article 14, which provides that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.(p.583)

The Supreme Court of the State, after a hearing of the case, denied the petition for a writ, and remanded the prisoner to the custody of the keeper of the state prison, to undergo the remainder of his sentence, and he then sued out a writ of error and brought the case here.

The questions to be determined in this court are, (1) as to the validity, with reference to the Federal Constitution, of the proceeding against the plaintiff in error on an information instead of by an indictment by a grand jury; and (2) the validity of the trial of the plaintiff in error by a jury composed of eight instead of twelve jurors.

We think the various questions raised by the plaintiff in error have in substance, though not all in terms, been decided by this court in the cases to which attention will be called. The principles which have been announced in those cases clearly prove the validity of the clauses in the constitution of Utah which are herein attacked as in violation of the Constitution of the United States. It will, therefore, be necessary in this case to do but little else than call attention to the former decisions of this court, and thereby furnish a conclusive answer to the contentions of plaintiff in error.

The proceeding by information and also the trial by a jury, composed of eight jurors, were both provided for by the state constitution.

Section 13, article 1, of the constitution of Utah provides:

"Offenses heretofore required to be prosecuted by indictment shall be prosecuted by information after examination and commitment by a magistrate, unless the examination be waived by the accused with the consent of the State, or by indictment, with or without such examination and commitment. The grand jury shall consist of seven persons, five of whom must concur to find an indictment; but no grand jury shall be drawn or summoned unless in the opinion of the judge of the district public interest demands it."

Section 10, article 1, of that constitution is as follows:

"In capital cases the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. In courts of general jurisdiction, except in capital cases, a jury shall consist of eight jurors. In courts of inferior (p.584)jurisdiction a jury shall consist of four jurors. In criminal cases the verdict shall be unanimous. In civil cases three fourths of the jurors may find a verdict. A jury in civil cases shall be waived unless demanded."

The objection that the proceeding by information does not amount to due process of law has been heretofore overruled, and must be regarded as settled by the case of Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516. The case has since been frequently approved. Hallinger v. Davis, 146 U.S. 314, 322; McNulty v. California, 149 U.S. 645; Hodgson v. Vermont, 168 U.S. 262, 272; Holden v. Hardy, 169 U.S. 366, 384; Brown v. New Jersey, 175 U.S. 172, 176; Bolln v. Nebraska, 176 U.S. 83.

But the plaintiff in error contends that the Hurtado case did not decide the question whether the state law violated that clause in the Fourteenth Amendment which provides that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Although the opinion is mainly devoted to an inquiry whether the California law was a violation of the "due process clause" of the above-mentioned amendment, yet the matter in issue in the case was as to the validity of the state law, and the court held it valid. It was alleged by the counsel for the plaintiff in error, before the court which passed sentence, that the proceeding was in conflict with the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments, and those grounds were before this court. The Fifth Amendment was referred to in the opinion delivered in this court, and it was held not to have been violated by the state law, although that amendment provides for an indictment by a grand jury. This decision could not have been arrived at if a citizen of the United States were entitled, by virtue of that clause of the Fourteenth Amendment relating to the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, to claim in a state court that he could not be prosecuted for an infamous crime unless upon an indictment by a grand jury. In a Federal court no person can be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless by indictment by a grand jury, with the exceptions stated in the (p.585)Fifth Amendment. Yet this amendment was held in the Hurtado case not to apply to a prosecution for murder in a state court pursuant to a state law. The claim was made in the case (and referred to in the opinion) that the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment provided an additional security to the individual against oppression by the States themselves, and limited their powers to the same extent as the amendments theretofore adopted had limited the powers of the Federal government. By holding that the conviction upon an information was valid, the court necessarily held that an indictment was not necessary; that exemption from trial for an infamous crime, excepting under an indictment, was not one of those privileges or immunities of a citizen of the United States which a State was prohibited from abridging. The whole case was probably regarded as involved in the question as to due process of law. The particular objection founded upon the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States is now taken and insisted upon in this case.

Under these circumstances it may not be improper to inquire as to the validity of a conviction in a state court, for an infamous crime, upon an information filed by the proper officer under the authority of the constitution and laws of the State wherein the crime was committed and the conviction took place; confining the inquiry to the question of the effect of the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting the States from making or enforcing any law which abridges the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. To the other objection, that a conviction upon an information deprives a person of his liberty without due process of law, the Hurtado case is, as we have said, a complete and conclusive answer.

The inquiry may be pursued in connection with that in regard to the validity of the provision in the state constitution for a trial before a jury to be composed of but eight jurors in criminal cases which are not capital. One of the objections to this provision is that its enforcement has abridged the privileges and immunities of the plaintiff in error as a citizen of the United States; the other objection being that a (p.586)conviction thus obtained has resulted in depriving the plaintiff in error of his liberty without due process of law. Postponing an inquiry in regard to this last objection until we have examined the other, we proceed to inquire what are the privileges and immunities of a citizen of the United States which no State can abridge? Do they include the right to be exempt from trial, for an infamous crime, in a state court and under state authority except upon presentment by a grand jury? And do they also include the right in all criminal prosecutions in a state court to be tried by a jury composed of twelve jurors?

That a jury composed, as at common law, of twelve jurors was intended by the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, there can be no doubt. Thompson v. Utah, 170 U.S. 343, 349. And as the right of trial by jury in certain suits at common law is preserved by the Seventh Amendment, such a trial implies that there shall be an unanimous verdict of twelve jurors in all Federal courts where a jury trial is held. American Publishing Company v. Fisher, 166 U.S. 464; Springville v. Thomas, 166 U.S. 707.

It would seem to be quite plain that the provision in the Utah constitution for a jury of eight jurors in all state criminal trials, for other than capital offenses, violates the Sixth Amendment, provided that amendment is now to be construed as applicable to criminal prosecutions of citizens of the United States in state courts.

It is conceded that there are certain privileges or immunities possessed by a citizen of the United States, because of his citizenship, and that they cannot be abridged by any action of the States. In order to limit the powers which it was feared might be claimed or exercised by the Federal government, under the provisions of the Constitution as it was when adopted, the first ten amendments to that instrument were proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the first Congress on the 25th of September, 1789. They were intended as restraints and limitations upon the powers of the general government, and were not intended to and did not have any effect upon the powers of the respective states. This has (p.587)been many times decided. The cases herewith cited are to that effect, and they cite many others which decide the same matter. Spies v. Illinois, 123 U.S. 131, 166; Holden v. Hardy, 169 U.S. 366, 382; Brown v. New Jersey, 175 U.S. 172, 174.

It is claimed, however, that since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment the effect of the former amendments has been thereby changed and greatly enlarged. It is now urged in substance that all the provisions contained in the first ten amendments, so far as they secure and recognize the fundamental rights of the individual as against the exercise of Federal power, are by virtue of this amendment to be regarded as privileges or immunities of a citizen of the United States, and, therefore, the States cannot provide for any procedure in state courts which could not be followed in a Federal court because of the limitations contained in those amendments. This was also the contention made upon the argument in the Spies case, 123 U.S. 131, 151; but in the opinion of the court therein, which was delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Waite, the question was not decided because it was held that the case did not require its decision.

In the Slaughter-house cases, 16 Wall. 36, the subject of the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, as distinguished from those of a particular State, was treated by Mr. Justice Miller in delivering the opinion of the court. He stated that the argument in favor of the plaintiffs, claiming that the ordinance of the city of New Orleans was invalid, rested wholly on the assumption that the citizenship is the same and the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment are the same as to citizens of the United States and citizens of the several States. This he showed to be not well founded; that there was a citizenship of the United States and a citizenship of the states, which were distinct from each other, depending upon different characteristics and circumstances in the individual; that it was only privileges and immunities of the citizen of the United States that were placed by the amendment under the protection of the Federal Constitution, and that the privileges and immunities of a citizen of a State, whatever they might be, were not (p.588)intended to have any additional protection by the paragraph in question, but they must rest for their security and protection where they have heretofore rested.

He then proceeded to inquire as to the meaning of the words "privileges and immunities" as used in the amendment, and said that the first occurrence of the phrase in our constitutional history is found to be in the fourth article of the old confederation, in which it was declared "that the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall have free ingress and egress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively." A provision corresponding to this, he found in the Constitution of the United States in section 2 of the fourth article, wherein it is provided that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states." What those privileges were is not defined in the Constitution, but the justice said there could be but little question that the purpose of both those provisions was the same, and that the privileges and immunities intended were the same in each. He then referred to the case of Corfield v. Coryell, decided by Mr. Justice Washington in the Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, in 1823, 4 Washington C. C. 371, Fed. Cas. No. 3,230, where the question of the meaning of this clause in the Constitution was raised. Answering the question, what were the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States, Mr. Justice Washington said in that case:

"We feel no hesitation in confining these expressions to those privileges and immunities which are in their nature fundamental; which belong of right to the citizens of all free governments, and which have at all times been enjoyed by the citizens of the several States which compose this Union from the time of their becoming free, independent and sovereign. (p.589)What these fundamental principles are it would be more tedious than difficult to enumerate. They may, however, be all comprehended under the following general heads: Protection by the government; ... The enjoyment of life and liberty with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such restraints as the government may prescribe for the general good of the whole."

Having shown that prior to the Fourteenth Amendment the legislation under review would have been regarded as relating to the privileges or immunities of citizens of the State, with which the United States had no concern, Justice Miller continued:

"It would be the vainest show of learning to attempt to prove by citations of authority, that up to the adoption of the recent amendments no claim or pretense was set up that those rights depended on the Federal government for their existence or protection, beyond the very few express limitations which the Federal Constitution imposed upon the States--such, for instance, as the prohibition against ex post facto laws, bills of attainder and laws impairing the obligation of contracts. But with the exception of these and a few other restrictions, the entire domain of the privileges and immunities of citizens of the States, as above defined, lay within the constitutional and legislative power of the States, and without that of the Federal government. Was it the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment, by the simple declaration that no state should make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, to transfer the security and protection of all the civil rights, which we have mentioned, from the states to the Federal government? And where it is declared that Congress shall have the power to enforce that article, was it intended to bring within the power of Congress the entire domain of civil rights heretofore belonging exclusively to the States?

"All this and more must follow, if the proposition of the plaintiffs in error be sound. For not only are these rights subject to the control of Congress whenever in its discretion any (p.590)of them are supposed to be abridged by state legislation, but that body may also pass laws in advance, limiting and restricting the exercise of legislative power by the States, in their most ordinary and usual functions, as in its judgment it may think proper on all such subjects. And still further, such a construction followed by the reversal of the judgments of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in these cases, would constitute this court a perpetual censor upon all legislation of the States, on the civil rights of their own citizens, with authority to nullify such as it did not approve as consistent with those rights, as they existed at the time of the adoption of this amendment. The argument we admit is not always the most conclusive which is drawn from the consequences urged against the adoption of a particular construction of an instrument. But when, as in the case before us, these consequences are so serious, so far-reaching and pervading, so great a departure from the structure and spirit of our institutions; when the effect is to fetter and degrade the State Governments by subjecting them to the control of Congress in the exercise of power heretofore universally conceded to them of the most ordinary and fundamental character; when, in fact, it radically changes the whole theory of the relations of the State and Federal governments to each other and of both these Governments to the people; the argument has a force that is irresistible in the absence of language which expresses such a purpose too clearly to admit of doubt. We are convinced that no such results were intended by the Congress which proposed these amendments, nor by the legislatures of the States which ratified them."

If the rights granted by the Louisiana legislature did not infringe upon the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, the question arose as to what such privileges were, and in enumerating some of them, without assuming to state them all, it was said that a citizen of the United States, as such, had the right to come to the seat of government to assert claims or transact business, to seek the protection of the government or to share its offices; he had the right of free access to its seaports, its various offices throughout the country, and to the courts of justice in the several States; to demand (p.591)the care and protection of the General Government over his life, liberty and property when on the high seas or within the jurisdiction of a foreign government; the right, with others, to peaceably assemble and petition for a redress of grievances; the right to the writ of habeas corpus, and to use the navigable waters of the United States, however they may penetrate the territory of the several States; also all rights secured to our citizens by treaties with foreign nations; the right to become citizens of any State in the Union by a bona fide residence therein, with the same rights as other citizens of that State; and the rights secured to him by the Thirteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. A right, such as is claimed here, was not mentioned, and we may suppose it was regarded as pertaining to the State and not covered by the amendment.

Other objections to the judgment were fully examined, and the result was reached that the legislation of the State of Louisiana complained of violated no provision of the Constitution of the United States.

We have made this extended reference to the case because of its great importance, the thoroughness of the treatment of the subject, and the great ability displayed by the author of the opinion. Although his suggestion that only discrimination by a State against the negroes as a class or on account of their race was covered by the amendment as to the equal protection of the laws, has not been affirmed by the later cases, yet it was but the expression of his belief as to what would be the decision of the court when a case came before it involving that point. The opinion upon the matters actually involved and maintained by the judgment in the case has never been doubted or overruled by any judgment of this court. It remains one of the leading cases upon the subject of that portion of the Fourteenth Amendment of which it treats.

The definition of the words "privileges and immunities," as given by Mr. Justice Washington, was adopted in substance in Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wall. 168, 180, and in Ward v. Maryland, 12 Wall. 418, 430. These rights, it is said in the Slaughter-house cases, have always been held to be the class of (p.592)rights which the State Governments were created to establish and secure.

In the same volume as the Slaughter-house cases is that of Bradwell v. The State, 16 Wall. 130, where it is held that the right to practice law in the courts of a State is not a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the United States, within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. And in Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wall. 162, it was held that the right of suffrage was not necessarily one of the privileges or immunities of citizenship before the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, and although a woman was in one sense a citizen of the United States, yet she did not obtain the right of suffrage by the adoption of that amendment. The right to vote is a most important one in our form of government, yet it is not given by the amendment.

In speaking of the meaning of the phrase "privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States," under section second, article fourth, of the Constitution, it was said by the present Chief Justice, in Cole v. Cunningham, 133 U.S. 107, that the intention was "to confer on the citizens of the several States a general citizenship, and to communicate all the privileges and immunities which the citizens of the same State would be entitled to under the like circumstances, and this includes the right to institute actions."

And in Blake v. McClung, 172 U.S. 239, 248, various cases are cited regarding the meaning of the words "privileges and immunities," under the fourth article of the Constitution, in not one of which is there any mention made of the right claimed in this case, as one of the privileges or immunities of citizens in the several States.

These cases show the meaning which the courts have attached to the expression, as used in the fourth article of the Constitution, and the argument is not labored which gives the same meaning to it when used in the Fourteenth Amendment.

That the primary reason for that amendment was to secure the full enjoyment of liberty to the colored race is not denied, yet it is not restricted to that purpose, and it applies to everyone, (p.593)white or black, that comes within its provisions. But, as said in the Slaughter-house cases, the protection of the citizen in his rights as a citizen of the State still remains with the State. This principle is again announced in the decision in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, wherein it is said that sovereignty, for the protection of the rights of life and personal liberty within the respective States, rests alone with the States. But if all these rights are included in the phrase "privileges and immunities" of citizens of the United States, which the States by reason of the Fourteenth Amendment cannot in any manner abridge, then the sovereignty of the State in regard to them has been entirely destroyed, and the Slaughter-house cases, and United States v. Cruikshank are all wrong, and should be overruled.

It was said in Minor v. Happersett, supra, that the amendment did not add to the privileges and immunities of a citizen; it simply furnished an additional guaranty for the protection of such as he already had. And in In re Kemmler, 136 U.S. 436, 448, it was stated by the present Chief Justice that--

"The Fourteenth Amendment did not radically change the whole theory of the relations of the state and Federal governments to each other, and of both governments to the people. The same person may be at the same time a citizen of the United States and a citizen of a State. Protection to life, liberty and property rests primarily, with the States, and the amendment furnishes an additional guaranty against any encroachment by the States upon those fundamental rights which belong to citizenship, and which the state governments were created to secure. The privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, as distinguished from the privileges and immunities of citizens of the States, are indeed protected by it; but those are privileges and immunities arising out of the nature and essential character of the national government, and granted or secured by the Constitution of the United States. United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542; Slaughter-house cases, 16 Wall. 36."

In Cooley's Constitutional Limitations, (4th ed. p. 497, marginal page 397,) the author says:(p.594)

"Although the precise meaning of 'privileges and immunities' is not very definitely settled as yet, it appears to be conceded that the Constitution secures in each State to the citizens of all other States the right to remove to and carry on business therein; the right by the usual modes to acquire and hold property, and to protect and defend the same in the law; the right to the usual remedies for the collection of debts and the enforcement of other personal rights, and the right to be exempt, in property and person, from taxes or burdens which the property or persons of citizens of the same State are not subject to."

There is no intimation here that among the privileges or immunities of a citizen of the United States are the right of trial by jury in a state court for a state offense and the right to be exempt from any trial for an infamous crime, unless upon presentment by a grand jury. And yet if these were such privileges and immunities, they would be among the first that would occur to anyone when enumerating or defining them. Nor would these rights come under the description given by the Chief Justice in the Kemmler case, supra. Such privileges or immunities do not arise out of the nature or essential character of the National Government.

In Walker v. Sauvinet, 92 U.S. 90, it was held that a trial by jury in suits at common law in the state courts was not a privilege or immunity belonging to a person as a citizen of the United States, and protected, therefore, by the Fourteenth Amendment. The action was tried without a jury by virtue of an act of the legislature of the state of Louisiana. The plaintiff in error objected to such a trial, alleging that he had a constitutional right to a trial by jury, and that the statute was void to the extent that it deprived him of that right. The objection was overruled. Mr. Chief Justice Waite, in delivering the opinion of the court, said:

"By article 7 of the amendments it is provided that 'in suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved.' This, as has been many times decided, relates only to trials in the courts of the United States. Edwards v. Elliott, 21 Wall. (p.595)532, 557. The States, so far as this amendment is concerned, are left to regulate trials in their own courts in their own way. A trial by jury in suits at common law pending in the state courts is not, therefore, a privilege or immunity of national citizenship, which the States are forbidden by the Fourteenth Amendment to abridge. A State cannot deprive a person of his property without due process of law; but this does not necessarily imply that all trials in the state courts affecting the property of persons must be by jury. This requirement of the Constitution is met if the trial is had according to the settled course of judicial proceedings. Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co., 18 How. 272, 280. Due process of law is process due according to the law of the land. This process in the States is regulated by the law of the State. Our power over that law is only to determine whether it is in conflict with the supreme law of the land--that is to say, with the Constitution and laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof--or with any treaty made under the authority of the United States."

This case shows that the Fourteenth Amendment in forbidding a State to abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, does not include among them the right of trial by jury in a civil case, in a state court, although the right to such a trial in the Federal courts is specially secured to all persons in the cases mentioned in the Seventh Amendment.

Is any one of the rights secured to the individual by the Fifth or by the Sixth Amendment any more a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the United States than are those secured by the Seventh? In none are they privileges or immunities granted and belonging to the individual as a citizen of the United States, but they are secured to all persons as against the Federal Government, entirely irrespective of such citizenship. As the individual does not enjoy them as a privilege of citizenship of the United States, therefore, when the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the abridgment by the States of those privileges or immunities which he enjoys as such citizen, it is not correct or reasonable to say that it covers and extends to (p.596)certain rights which he does not enjoy by reason of his citizenship, but simply because those rights exist in favor of all individuals as against Federal governmental powers. The nature or character of the right of trial by jury is the same in a criminal prosecution as in a civil action, and in neither case does it spring from nor is it founded upon the citizenship of the individual as a citizen of the United States, and if not, then it cannot be said that in either case it is a privilege or immunity which alone belongs to him as such citizen.

So it was held in the oyster planting case, McCready v. Virginia, 94 U.S. 391, that the right which the people of that State acquired to appropriate its tide waters and the beds therein for taking and cultivating fish, was but a regulation of the use, by the people, of their common property, and the right thus acquired did not come from their citizenship alone, but from their citizenship and property combined. It was, therefore, a property right and not a mere privilege or immunity of citizenship, and for that reason the citizen of one State was not invested by the Constitution of the United States with any interest in the common property of the citizens of another State.

This was a decision under another section of the Constitution (section second of article fourth) from the one under discussion, and it gives to the citizens of each State all privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States, but it is cited for the purpose of showing that where the privilege or immunity does not rest alone upon citizenship, a citizen of another State does not participate therein.

In this case the privilege or immunity claimed does not rest upon the individual by virtue of his national citizenship, and hence is not protected by a clause which simply prohibits the abridgment of the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Those are not distinctly privileges or immunities of such citizenship, where everyone has the same as against the Federal Government, whether citizen or not.

The Fourteenth Amendment, it must be remembered, did not add to those privileges or immunities. The Sauvinet case is an authority in favor of the contention that the amendment [paragraph continues next page]

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