Constitution

U. S. ve el, called Old Ironsides, which vanquished the Guerrière off Gulf of St. Lawrence Aug. 19, 1812, the Java off coast of Brazil Dec. 29, 1812, the Cyane and Levant off Lisbon Feb. 20, 1815. statutes in accordance therewith, and the judicial decisions relating thereto. In Britain, it consists mainly of such written laws as Magna Charta, The Bill of Rights and The Act of Settlement, unwritten laws which are enforced by the courts, and those understandings and practices which are deemed binding, but not enforced by the courts. A striking feature of American court-law is the power given to the courts to declare duly enacted statutes void because in conflict with the written Constitution; another is the partition of the powers of sovereignty between the State and the Federal governments, so that each is sovereign within its sphere, the nation being "an indestructible union of indestructible States."