Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol III).djvu/410

 402 all the weight, which it appears possible to give them, is signed, because the signature, which gives force and effect to the commission, is conclusive evidence, that the appointment is made. The commission being signed, the subsequent duty of the secretary of state is prescribed by law, and not to be guided by the will of the president. He is to affix the seal of the United States to the commission, and is to record it. This is not a proceeding, which may be varied, if the judgment of the executive shall suggest one more eligible; but is a precise course accurately marked out by law, and is to be strictly pursued. It is the duty of the secretary of state to conform to the law, and in this he is an officer of the United States, bound to obey the laws. He acts, in this respect, as has been very properly stated at the bar, under the authority of law, and not by the instructions of the president. It is a ministerial act, which the law enjoins on a particular officer for a particular purpose. If it should be supposed, that the solemnity of affixing the seal is necessary, not only to the validity of the commission, but even to the completion of an appointment; still, when the seal is affixed, the appointment is made, and the commission is valid. No other solemnity is required by law; no other act is to be performed on the part of government. All, that the executive can do to invest the person with his office, is done; and unless the appointment be then made, the executive cannot make one without the co-operation of others. After searching anxiously for the principles, on which a contrary opinion may be supported, none have been found, which appear of sufficient force to maintain the opposite doctrine. Such, as the imagination of the court could suggest, have been very deliberately examined, and after allowing them