They  said :  "  In  the  law  '  pardon '  has  different  meanings,
which  were^  as  well  understood  when  the  Constitution  was
made,  as  any  other  legal  word  in  the  Constitution  now  is.
Such  a  thing  as  a  pardon  without  a  designation  of  its  kind  is
not  known  in  the  law.  Time  out  of  mind,  in  the  earliest
books  of  the  English  law,  every  pardon  has  its  particular  de-
nomination. They  are  general,  special  or  particular,  condi-
tional, absolute,  statutory,  not  necessary  in  some  cases,  and  in

some  grantable  of  course We  might  mention  other

legal  incidents  of  a  pardon,  but  those  mentioned  are  enough  to
illustrate  the  subject  of  pardons,  and  the  extent  or  meaning  of
the  President's  power  to  grant  reprieves  or  pardons.  It
meant  that  the  power  was  to  be  used  according  to  law ;  that
is,  as  it  had  been  used  in  England,  and  in  these  states  while
they  were  colonies  ;  not  because  it  was  a  prerogative  power,

but  as  incidents  of  the  power  to  pardon We   think

that  the  language  used  in  the  Constitution  conferring  the
power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons,  must  be  construed  with
reference  to  its  meaning  at  the  time  of  its  adoption.  At  the
time  of  our  separation  from  Great  Britain,  that  power  had
been  exercised  by  the  Ijing  as  the  chief  executive.  Prior  to
the  Revolution,  the  colonies  being  in  effect  under  the  laws  of
England,  were  accustomed  to  the  exercise  of  it  in  the  various
forms  as  they  may  be  found  in  the  English  law  books.  They
were  of  course  to  be  applied  as  occasions  occurred,  and  they
constituted  a  part  of  the  jurisprudence  of  Anglo-America.
