Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/348

 308 rule of action, prescribed by the supreme power in a state, regulating the rights and duties of the whole community. It is a rule, as contradistinguished from a temporary or sudden order; permanent, uniform, and universal. It is also called a rule, to distinguish it from a compact, or agreement; for a compact (he adds) is a promise proceeding from us; law is a command directed to us. The language of a compact is, I will, or will not do this; that of a law is, Thou shalt, or shalt not do it. "In compacts we ourselves determine and promise, what shall be done, before we are obliged to do it. In laws, we are obliged to act without ourselves determining, or promising any thing at all." It is a rule prescribed; that is, it is laid down, promulgated, and established. It is prescribed by the supreme power in a state, that is, among us, by the people, or a majority of them in their original sovereign capacity. Like the ordinary municipal laws, it may be founded upon our consent, or that of our representatives; but it derives its ultimate obligatory force, as a law, and not as a compact.

§ 340. And it is in this light, that the language of the constitution of the United States manifestly contemplates it; for it declares (article 6th), that this constitution and the laws, &c. and treaties made under the authority of the United States, "shall be the supreme of the land." This (as has been justly observed by the Federalist) results from the very nature of political institutions. A law, by the very meaning of the terms, includes supremacy. If individuals enter into