Speech of the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Dr. Alfonso Solórzano, at a session held by that Tribunal in honor of Mr. Knox on March 6, 1912.

[Translation.]

Your Excellency:

It is the first time in the annals of the history of the Supreme Court of Justice that it has departed from its traditions and extended an invitation to anyone to honor it with a visit.

But nothing is more natural than that it should be extended to you who come as the representative of the great American Nation, which, it is truthfully said, has placed law upon the highest pedestal in the world.

We read your history with interest to learn of the institutions of a free people; its pages, covered with wise lessons, have taught us to love your great men of lofty virtue, who, always conscious of their duty, had the strength of mind to perform it—those men of a glorious past who first planted with firm and unfaltering hand the banner of freedom in the heart of the American Continent.

Born, like you, to a life of law, we have struggled for liberty. Vividly before us is the example of your country, which has succeeded in attaining the height of power not only through the untiring endeavors of its sons to win material progress, but also, and especially, through its political institutions so wisely formulated and even more judicially adhered to.

When your great ancestors founded the Republic they embodied in the Constitution the admirable principles of liberty. They believed, and rightly, that progress and happiness of a people could only be brought about by the full exercise of individual activities, and hence they put upon them no limitations other than those fixed by God, Himself, to prevent annihilation of all in the clash of opposing aspirations.

But they also understood that the wise provisions of this political organism would be fruitless if they did not establish a sovereign and independent power, which, removed as far as human weakness [Page 1123] permits from the strife of parties and free from the passions of interest, should become the custodian of its institutions and safeguard its laws; and to the Supreme Court of Justice, which already had been intrusted, with the noble mission of conserving peace, protecting life, property, and honor against individual acts, was intrusted this other and higher charge—that of maintaining its principles when unfortunately they might be trampled upon by those intrusted to guard them.

The institution of the Supreme Court of Justice as the custodian of the fundamental law is, to quote Hoot, “the most precious gift that political science has given to our country.” We, prepared by the history of our “mother country,” which from the first understood that law is in the hands of the governing power, were heirs also to this valuable legacy.

Our court, like yours, without machinery of material force, is perhaps the highest moral power of the State. It prevents the execution of those orders of the other high powers of the States which might violate the Constitution; it repairs the wrong, punishes the guilty, and, by recent ruling, it even decides upon direct appeal the unconstitutionality of the laws. It is this power which now demonstrates its admiration and good will toward you, and, through you, toward your country. We fain would believe that, if the assurances of cordiality which the political bodies of our country have lavished upon you have been agreeable, as the expression of sincere feeling, this demonstration, which is addressed not to policy but to an eminent jurisconsult, not to a great and strong power, but to people great in law and liberty, will be not less well received.