his  life,  liberty,  and  property,  under  the  protection  of  general
rules  which  govern  society.  Every  thing  which  may  pass
under  the  form  of  an  enactment  is  not  the  law  of  the  land."

Mr.  Justice  Bronson,  certainly  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  that
ever  sat  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of  New  York,  thus  defined  the
phrase  in  Porter  v.  Taylor  :  ^  "  The  words  '  by  the  law  of  the
land  '  do  not  mean  a  statute  passed  for  the  purpose  of  working
the  wrong.  That  construction  would  render  the  restriction
absolutely  nugatory,  and  turn  this  part  of  the  Constitution  into
mere  nonsense.  The  meaning  of  the  section  seems  to  be,  that
no  member  of  the  state  shall  be  deprived  of  his  rights  and
privileges,  unless  the  matter  shall  be  adjudged  against  him
upon  trial  had  according  to  the  course  of  the  common  law.  It
must  be  ascertained  judicially  that  he  has  forfeited  his  privi-
leges, or  that  some  one  else  has  a  superior  title  to  the  property
he  possesses,  before  either  of  them  can  be  taken  from  him.
