Dooley v. Smith/Dissent Field

Mr. Justice FIELD, dissenting.

The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Clifford, and myself, dissent from the judgment of the majority of the court just rendered. The question presented is whether a contract for the payment of dollars made previous to February 25th, 1862, can be satisfied, against the will of the holder, by a tender of United States notes equal in nominal amount to the sum due on the contract. This question depends, of course, for its solution upon the validity and constitutionality of that provision of the act of 1862, which makes these notes a legal tender in payment of debts. We have recently had occasion to express on this subject our views at large, and to them we adhere. We have considered with great deliberation the views of the majority, who differ from us, and we are unable to yield our assent to them. With all proper deference and respect for our brethren, we are constrained to say that, in our judgment, the doctrines advanced in their opinions on this subject are not only in conflict with the teachings of all the statesmen and jurists of the country up to a recent period, and at variance with the uniform practice of the government for nearly three-quarters of a century, but that they tend directly to break down the barriers which separate a government of limited powers from a government resting in the unrestrained will of Congress.

We are therefore compelled by every consideration of duty which may be supposed to govern judicial officers on this bench, to express on all proper occasions our dissent from what we regard as a wide departure from the limitations of the Constitution. Those limitations must be preserved, or our government will inevitably drift from the system established by our fathers into a vast centralized and consolidated government.