DANIEL, Justice.
Concurring entirely, as I do, with the majority of the court, in the conclusions they have reached relative to the effect and validity of the statute of Pennsylvania now under review, it is with unfeigned regret that I am constrained to dissent from some of the principles and reasonings which that majority, in passing to our common conclusions, have believed themselves called on to affirm.
In judicial proceedings, generally, that has been deemed a safe and prudent rule of action, which involves no rights or questions not necessary to be considered; but leaves these for adjudication where and when only they shall be presented directly and unavoidably, and when surrounded with every circumstance which can best illustrate their character. If, in ordinary questions of private interest, this rule is recommended by considerations of prudence, and accuracy and justice; it is surely much more to be observed, when the subject to which it is applicable is the great fundamental law of the confederacy; every clause and article of which affects the polity and the acts of states. Guided by the rule just mentioned, it seems to me, that the regular action of the court in this case is limited to an examination of the Pennsylvania statute, to a comparison of its provisions with the third clause of the fourth article of the constitution, and with the act of congress of 1793, with which the law of Pennsylvania is alleged to be in conflict; and that to accomplish these purposes, a general definition or contrast of the powers of the state and federal governments, was neither requisite nor proper. The majority of my brethren, in the conscientious discharge of their duty, have thought themselves bound to pursue a different course; and it is in their definition and distribution of state and federal powers, and in the modes and times they have assigned for the exercising those powers, that I find myself compelled to differ with them.
That portion of the constitution which provides for the recovery of fugitive shares, is the third clause of the second section of the fourth article; and is in these words: 'No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation herein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.' The paramount authority of this clause in the constitution to guaranty to the owner the right of property in his slave, and the absolute nullity of any state power, directly or indirectly, openly or covertly, aimed to impair that right, or to obstruct its enjoyment, I admit, nay, insist upon, to the fullest extent. I contend, moreover, that the act of 1793, made in aid of this clause of the constitution and for its enforcement, so far as it conforms to the constitution, is the supreme law to the states; and cannot be contravened by them, without a violation of the constitution. But the majority of my brethren, proceeding beyond these positions, assume the ground, that the clause of the constitution above quoted, as an affirmative power granted by the constitution, is essentially an exclusive power in the federal government; and consequently, that any and every exercise of anthority by the states, at any time, though undeniably in aid of the guarantee thereby give, is absolutely null and void.