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The Legal Meaning Of Commerce In The Commerce Clause, Robert G. Natelson

Faculty Law Review Articles

In this article the author inquires into the meaning of the legal term "commerce" at the the time the Constitution was written, debated, and ratified. The article provides additional support for the conclusion that, for reasons of policy and politics, the founding generation inserted this conceptual and legal boundary into the Constitution and the clear inference from these findings collectively is that the Commerce Clause was designed to give Congress jurisdiction over the law merchant insofar as it pertained to interjurisdictional activities, which was the same jurisdiction that pre-Revolution American pamphleteers had conceded to Parliament.

Part I examines contending definitions …