statute is passed to accomplish something. If the object is
clear, the rules of Anglo-American law allow the court that may
be called on to apply it to extend its operation to cases within
the purpose evidently intended, although the language used is
inadequate fully to express it. This is styled giving effect to
"the equity of the statute." Even violence can be done to the
words, if so only can this judge-discovered intent be made
effectual. The rules governing judicial interpretation of
statute law fill a good-sized volume.

As the Roman lawyers worked out by force of logic and analogy an
extensive system of private law from the meagre fabric of the
Twelve Tables, so under the lead of American lawyers American
judges have applied the processes familiar in the development of
unwritten law to the development of our written law, both
statutory and constitutional.

Carlyle said that the Roman republic was allowed so long a day
because on emergencies the constitution was suspended by a
dictatorship. The American republics have a right, upon this
theory, to a still longer one. With them the Constitution need
not be temporarily set aside on an emergency. It may simply be
permanently enlarged or limited by judicial construction. A
Constitution is the garment which a nation wears. Whether
written or unwritten, it must grow with its growth. As Mr. Bryce
has put it: "Human affairs being what they are, there must be a
loophole for expansion or extension in some part of every scheme
of government; and if the Constitution is Rigid, Flexibility must
be supplied from the minds of the Judges."[Footnote: "Studies in
History and Jurisprudence," 197.]