Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0769
Case Information
- Content Scored
- Terrett v. Taylor, 13 U.S. 43 (1815)
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Reports Vol. 13 (9 Cranch)
- Author
- Justice Joseph Story (opinion of the Court)
- Publication Date
- 1815-02-01
- Content Type
- Judicial Opinion / Legal-Normative Text
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-20
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The companion to Fletcher v. Peck, and the cleaner of the two, protecting vested property without the shadow of corruption over the Yazoo grant. Virginia, having disestablished the Episcopal Church, passed 1798/1801 statutes purporting to strip it of property lawfully acquired before independence and vest it in the state. Story held the state could not. A legislative grant vests "an indefeasible and irrevocable title"; the notion that a grant is "revocable in its own nature, and held only durante bene placito" would "uproot the very foundations of almost all the land-titles" and is "utterly inconsistent with... the right of the citizens to the free enjoyment of their property legally acquired." The Court refused to let a legislature repeal corporate charters and seize the property "under the faith of previous laws," resisting the doctrine "upon the principles of natural justice, upon the fundamental laws of every free government, upon the spirit and the letter of the constitution of the United States." Strong multi-sided alignment: the security of lawfully-acquired property against a repealing legislature (Article IX, 84); a structural limit on legislative power grounded in fundamental law and the Constitution (Article XVII, 80); a church-property case reflecting the founders' religious settlement — no compelled worship or sect taxes, but equal corporate protection for the churches of every sect (Article XI, 78); the rule of law keeping titles stable (Article XVIII, 78). No countervailing tension: the church acquired honestly by purchase and donation (no Yazoo shadow), the legislature is checked for exceeding its power over vested property, and as to 1801 Virginia had lost jurisdiction (DC under exclusive federal authority). Scored as Legal/Normative text (85/15). Tier 1 nets to 80; the result is 81 — America First, a notch above Fletcher. Principle scored, not result.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0769 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.