State v. . Manuel

There is thus directly presented for our decision the question which was heretofore raised and argued in the case of Oxendine (ante, 2 vol., 435), but which it was then deemed neither necessary nor proper to determine, that is to say, whether the act of 1831, ch. 13 (See 1 Rev. Stat., ch. 3, secs. 86, 87, 88, 89), "to provide for the collection of fines imposed upon free negroes and free persons of color," be unconstitutional and void. Every case seriously questioning the constitutionality of a statute is entitled to the most deliberate consideration, because it invokes the exercise of the…