[1226] Perry v. United States, 294 U.S. 330, 354 (1935) in which the Court concluded "that the Joint Resolution of June 5, 1933, insofar as it attempted to override" the gold-clause obligation in a Fourth Liberty Loan Gold Bond, "went beyond the congressional power."
See also Branch v. Haas, 16 F. 53 (1883), citing Hanauer v. Woodruff, 15 Wall. 439 (1873) and Thorington v. Smith, 8 Wall. 1 (1869) in which it was held that inasmuch as bonds issued by the Confederate States were rendered illegal by section four, a contract for the sale and delivery before October 29, 1881 of 200 Confederate coupon bonds at the rate of $1000 was void, and a suit for damages for failure to deliver could not be maintained.
See also The Pietro Campanella, 73 F. Supp. 18 (1947) which arose out of a suit for the forfeiture, prior to our entry into World War II, of Italian vessels in an American port and their subsequent requisition by the Maritime Commission. The Attorney General, as successor to the Alien Property Custodian, was declared to be entitled to the fund thereafter determined to be due as compensation for the use and subsequent loss of the vessels; and the order of the Alien Property Custodian vesting in himself, for the United States, under authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act and Executive Order, all rights of claimants in the vessels and to the fund substituted therefor was held not to be a violation of section four. An attorney for certain of the claimants, who had asserted a personal right to a lien upon the fund for his services, had argued that when the Government requisitioned ships under the applicable statute providing for compensation, and at a time before this country was at war with Italy, the United States entered into a binding agreement with the owners for compensation and that this promise constituted a valid obligation of the United States which could not be repudiated without violating section four.
[1227] Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 13 (1883). See also United States v. Wheeler, 254 U.S. 281 (1920) on which it was held that the United States is without power to punish infractions by individuals of the right of citizen to reside peacefully in the several States, and to have free ingress into and egress from such States. Authority to deal with the forcible eviction by a mob of individuals across State boundaries is exclusively within the power reserved by the Constitution to the States.
[1228] Virginia v. Rives, 100 U.S. 313, 318 (1880); Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303 (1880).
[1229] Ex parte Virginia, 100 U.S. 339, 344 (1880).
[1230] United States v. Harris, 106 U.S. 629 (1883). See also Baldwin v. Franks, 120 U.S. 678, 685 (1887).
[1231] 325 U.S. 91 (1945).
[1232] 18 U.S.C.A. § 242.
[1233] No "opinion of the Court" was given. In announcing the judgment of the Court, Justice Douglas, who was joined by Chief Justice Stone and Justices Black and Reed, declared that the trial judge had erred in not charging the jury that the defendants must be found to have had the specific intention of depriving their victim of his right to a fair trial in accordance with due process of law, that this was the force of the word, "willfully," in section 20, and that any other construction of section 20 would be void for want of laying down an "ascertainable standard of guilt." To avoid a stalemate on the Court, Justice Rutledge concurred in the result; but, on the merits of the case, he would have affirmed the conviction. Justice Murphy announced that he favored affirming the conviction and therefore dissented. Justice Roberts, with whom Justices Frankfurter and Jackson were associated, dissented for reasons stated in the text.