If the plaintiff has a right, he must of necessity have means to vindicate and maintain it, and a remedy if he is injured in the exercise of enjoyment of it; and indeed it is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy and want of a remedy are reciprocal

The right was "made for the benefit of" petitioners; they have been "hindered by another of that benefit"; but despite what has long been understood as the "necessary consequence of law," they have no action

A common carrier is subject to a special liability:'The law charges this person thus intrusted to carry goods, against all events but acts of God, and of the enemies of the king

Lord Holt has well said: `Surely every injury imports a damage, though it does not cost the party one farthing, and it is impossible to prove the contrary; for a damage is not merely pecuniary, but an injury imports a damage when a man is thereby hindered of his right

This principle originated in the English common law, and Blackstone described it as "a general and indisputable rule, that where there is a legal right, there is also a legal remedy, by suit or action at law, whenever that right is invaded." 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 23 (1783).

—contrived by the policy of the law, for the safety of all persons, the necessity of whose affairs oblige them to trust these sorts of persons, that they may be safe in their ways of dealing; for else these carriers might have an opportunity of undoing all persons that had any dealings with them, by combining with thieves, etc. and yet doing it in such a clandestine manner, as …

In this regard they occupy a position similar to common carriers, who are held to'exercise a sort of public office,'and have public duties to perform.

The peculiar province of this species of paper is, to facilitate the exchanges of value from place to place, and from person to person; to be deposited as collateral, though a possible, is not an appropriate or natural function of bills of exchange, any more than it is of money.

Faced with a suit pleading denial of the right to vote, the court rejected the plaintiff's claim because, among other reasons, the plaintiff had not established actual damages.

The early English cases in the development of common law put it in this manner: "Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason."