The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives injury. One of the first duties of government is to afford that protection… The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right….
United States Supreme Court, Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Notes