Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/96

 90 Opinion of Wm. D. Fenton hibited. We look in the constitution of the United States for grants of legislative power, but in the constitution of the state to ascertain if any limitations have been imposed upon the complete power with which the legislative department of the state was vested in its creation. Congress can pass no laws but such as the constitution authorizes either expressly or by clear implication, while the state legislature has jurisdic- tion of all subjects on which its legislation is not prohibited/' A multitude of authorities sustains these propositions. In Bushnell v. Beloit, 10 Wis. 225, the court says: "We suppose it to be a well settled political principle that the constitution of the state is to be regarded not as a grant of power but rather as a limitation upon the powers of the legislature, and that it is competent for the legislature to exer- cise all legislative power not forbidden by the constitution or delegated to the general government or prohibited by the con- stitution of the United States." In Smith v. Judge, 17 Cal. 557, the rule is thus stated: "The legislature has large powers but its authority is not unlimited. But as we said before, those who assert a limita- tion must And it in the constitution." Also, "It is also unques- tionable that the mass of powers of government is vested in the representatives of the people, and that these representa- tives are no further restrained under our system than by the express language of the instrument imposing the restraint or by particular provisions which by a clear intendment have that effect. The constitution is not, as in the case of the fed- eral government, a grant of power to the legislature which is its general head and representative." In this opinion of Mr. Justice Baldwin, Chief Justice Field concurred. In Lycoming v. Union, 15 Pa. St. 166-169, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania says: "We must remember that the legislative branch of our government, unlike the federal government, is limited in its remedial jurisdiction only by the express prohibition or impli-