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against cruel punishments, which was intended to prohibit inhumane and barbarous bodily punishments, is so construed as to limit the discretion of the lawmaking power in determining the mere severity with which punishments not of the prohibited character may be prescribed." Justices White and Holmes did not object to extending the Eighth
Amendment so as to ban newly devised bodily punishments that are inhumane and barbarous; instead they contended that "the prohibition against the infliction of cruel bodily torture cannot be extended so as to limit legislative discretion in prescribing punishment for crime by modes and methods which are not embraced within the prohibition against cruel bodily punishment."
366:"Legislation, both statutory and constitutional, is enacted, it is true, from an experience of evils but its general language should not, therefore, be necessarily confined to the form that evil had theretofore taken. Time works changes, brings into existence new conditions and purposes. Therefore a principle to be vital must be capable of wider application than the mischief which gave it birth. This is peculiarly true of Constitutions. They are not ephemeral enactments, designed to meet passing occasions. They are, to use the words of Chief Justice Marshall, 'designed to approach immortality as nearly as human institutions can approach it.'" (
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to ankle and compelled to work at "hard and painful labor." Citing a line of cases related to 8th
Amendment concerns, the Court demonstrated also that such a severe penalty for so relatively minor a crime was impermissible. In fact, the Court stated that even if the least severe form of punishment statutorily allowed for this crime had been ordered, this would have been "repugnant to the Bill of Rights." Stating that the fault was in the law itself, and seeing no other applicable law under which Weems could be sentenced, the Court ordered the judgment reversed, with directions to dismiss the charges entirely.
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cites the
Philippine Criminal Code of Procedure, which, in part, requires that charges be, "in such form as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended," and that no trial, judgment, or other proceeding can, "be affected, by reason of a defect in matter of form which does not tend to prejudice a substantial right of the defendant upon the merits."
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The argument brought by the plaintiff contained four points, one of which was abandoned due to a mistake of fact. The abandoned point was that the record did not state that Weems was arraigned, that he issued a plea to the complaint upon his demurrer being overruled, and that he was "ordered to plead
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Addressing the second and third points of the plaintiff's argument simultaneously, the Court determined that the sentence of 15 years in prison was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. In particular, the Court noted that the conditions of incarceration specifically included being chained from wrist
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determined that the plaintiff's first assignment of error was incorrect. The opinion cited acts of U.S. Congress and the
Philippine Commission as indicating that their respective governments, while politically connected in important ways, were separate and distinct entities. The Court specifically
250:, was a disbursing officer of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation. He was charged, in the Philippine courts, with falsifying a public and official document for the purposes of defrauding the government. He was convicted of this and sentenced to 15 years incarceration, and a fine of 4,000
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concurred. The dissenters asserted that constitutional provisions should not be allowed to "progress" so as to include what they were not intended to include. Regarding the particular constitutional provision in question, the dissenters characterized the Court's opinion as follows: "the clause
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First, the
Philippine court was in error when it overruled Weems' demurrer. This point is based on the plaintiff being described as a "disbursing officer of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation of the Philippine Islands," a body politic which does not
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Citation regarding 'Enduring
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The three points that the plaintiff actually argued are as follows:
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Browning-Ferris
Industries of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc.
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delivered the opinion of the court, joined by Chief
Justice
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United States
Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 217
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Error to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands
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325:was absent on account of sickness and Justice
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222:, 217 U.S. 349 (1910), was a decision of the
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329:died before the opinion was delivered.
186:McKenna, joined by Fuller, Harlan, Day
619:Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber
18:1910 United States Supreme Court case
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36:Supreme Court of the United States
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1235:United States Supreme Court cases
420:349 (1910) is available from:
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1099:City of Grants Pass v. Johnson
473:United States Eighth Amendment
54:Paul A. Weems v. United States
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486:Cruel and unusual punishment
228:cruel and unusual punishment
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224:United States Supreme Court
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1051:South Carolina v. Gathers
723:Skipper v. South Carolina
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119:
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1204:Tyler v. Hennepin County
1151:United States v. Salerno
1123:Excessive bail and fines
1180:Austin v. United States
715:Caldwell v. Mississippi
576:Montgomery v. Louisiana
238:for more information).
236:Philippine–American War
194:White, joined by Holmes
1163:Excessive Fines Clause
1027:Robinson v. California
643:California v. Anderson
627:McGautha v. California
512:Robinson v. California
504:Weems v. United States
410:Weems v. United States
403:Weems v. United States
368:Weems v. United States
219:Weems v. United States
24:Weems v. United States
1134:Excessive Bail Clause
875:Panetti v. Quarterman
755:Maynard v. Cartwright
891:Kennedy v. Louisiana
787:Whitmore v. Arkansas
779:Stanford v. Kentucky
763:Thompson v. Oklahoma
747:Lowenfield v. Phelps
592:Jones v. Mississippi
536:Harmelin v. Michigan
154:Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
1067:Helling v. McKinney
992:Hudson v. McMillian
958:Corporal punishment
947:Bucklew v. Precythe
683:Spaziano v. Florida
584:Virginia v. LeBlanc
544:Ewing v. California
434:Library of Congress
278:to the complaint."
45:Decided May 2, 1910
1059:Payne v. Tennessee
984:Ingraham v. Wright
939:Madison v. Alabama
811:Atkins v. Virginia
803:Herrera v. Collins
731:Ford v. Wainwright
707:Glass v. Louisiana
675:Godfrey v. Georgia
552:Lockyer v. Andrade
267:U.S. Supreme Court
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795:Walton v. Arizona
691:Enmund v. Florida
635:Furman v. Georgia
611:Wilkerson v. Utah
568:Miller v. Alabama
560:Graham v. Florida
520:Rummel v. Estelle
401:Works related to
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1196:Timbs v. Indiana
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976:Gates v. Collier
915:Hurst v. Florida
907:Glossip v. Gross
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739:Tison v. Arizona
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317:. Justice
242:Background
84:U.S. LEXIS
82:793; 1910
273:Arguments
265:with the
60:Citations
475:case law
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301:Justice
297:Decision
256:demurrer
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