Cooley’s 1880 constitutional-law manual, including his account of arms, militia enrollment, and public order. Heller cites pages 270–71 as later corroboration of the Second Amendment’s meaning.
The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America
Thomas M. Cooley · 1880
Thomas M. Cooley, The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America (1880)
Cornell University Library; digitized for the Internet Archive with MSN sponsorship. No missing numbered content identified. Heller uses this post-Civil War treatise as later corroboration; it is not a text written at the Second Amendment’s ratification. The quoted paragraph preserves a requirement to observe public-order laws. The next paragraph permits prohibitions on secretly carrying weapons suited merely to deadly individual encounters. The checked 1880 page 271 labels its paragraph “The Right is General”; Heller calls it “The Right in General.” Cooley also writes “the government” where the Heller quotation prints “government.” The citation and substantive passage are verified, but exact word-for-word fidelity is not claimed. Citation in a Scalia-authored opinion does not establish personal consultation of this physical copy.
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Use in constitutional interpretation
Antonin Scalia · Opinion of the Court
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 617–18 (2008).
Scalia cites Cooley’s 1880 account as later evidence of the Second Amendment’s meaning. Cooley rejects limiting the right to enrolled militia members, explains how an armed populace can supply a militia, and requires voluntary arms discipline to observe public-order laws. The adjoining discussion permits prohibiting concealed weapons suited merely to deadly individual encounters; the entry preserves that context.
Read printed 270–71 →
The title and copyright pages establish the Boston 1880 first edition, published by Little, Brown, and Company. This is a different work from Cooley’s Constitutional Limitations.
Printed pages 270–71 are PDF pages 316–17. Printed page 272 (PDF page 318) supplies the adjoining weapons discussion.
Heller uses this post-Civil War treatise as later corroboration; it is not a text written at the Second Amendment’s ratification.
The quoted paragraph preserves a requirement to observe public-order laws. The next paragraph permits prohibitions on secretly carrying weapons suited merely to deadly individual encounters.
The checked 1880 page 271 labels its paragraph “The Right is General”; Heller calls it “The Right in General.” Cooley also writes “the government” where the Heller quotation prints “government.” The citation and substantive passage are verified, but exact word-for-word fidelity is not claimed.
