MARBURG. 43 MARCEL. natural beaut}-. Population, in 1800, 14,520; in UIOO, 17,.327, cliielly I'rotestants. First iML'utioncd in thp thirteenth century, Mar- Iiurg was cnilowed with municipal rights by the Landgrave Louis of Thuringia in 1227, and after his deatli became the residence of his widow, Elizabeth of Hungary, later canonized. During the tiftecntli and sixteenth centuries Marburg was one of the residences of the landgraves of Hesse. It passed with Hesse-Cassel to Prussia in lS(i6. The fiirtilications were demolished by the French in 1810-11. MARBURG, UxiVERSlTY of. The first Prot- estant university of Germany, founded by Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, in 1527, and endowed with the income of thirteen suppressed monasteries. The Imperial assent was given in 1541. The new foundation drew largely from Wittenberg for its early teaching stall', became a stronghold of Lutheran doctrine, and flourished accordingly. In IG07 Landgrave Moritz converted it into a Cal- vinistic school, which conversion resulted in the departure of many professors and students, and the foundation of the University of Giessen. The Thirty Years' War nearly ruined the university, which was reconstituted in 1653. Since the incor- poration of Hesse-Cassel with Prussia it has flourished greatly. It has a budget of about 950,- 000 marks, and 'in lOOl had over 1200 students, including about forty women, in theology, medi- cine, law, and philosophy, the majority being in the two latter faculties. Its library contains about l.-)0.000 volumes. MARBURY vs. MADISON. The title of a famous decision rendereil by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1803 and reported in the fourth volume of Cranch's Rfjtortfi. Its impor- tance in the constitutional development of the United States lies in the fact that this was the first instance in which the Supreme Court as- sumed the right to declare a statute of Congress null and void on account of its repugnance to the Constitution. It is popularly regarded as the chief basis for the American doctrine of the right of the courts to disregard unconstitutional stat- utes, although the right had been asserted by State courts in some half a dozen instances be- fore the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The case of Marbury r.5. Madison arose out of an attempt of the plaintifl' to secure a writ of man- damus from the Supreme Court to compel .lames Madison, then Secretary of State, to deliver to him a commission as jistice of the peace of the District of Columbia. Marbury had been ap- pointed to this oflHce by President Adams, the Senate had confirmed the nomination, and his commission had been made out. signed and sealed, but had not been delivered. When Madison en- tered upon his duties as Secretary of State he found flic commission and refused to deliver it. Marbuiy. in bringing his suit, relied ipon an act of Congress, which empowered the Supreme Court to issue the writ of mandanuis to executive offi- cers to compel them to perform their duties in certain cases. But as the Constitution expressly emimerates the cases in which the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction and nowhere mentions the right of issuing the writ of man- damus, the Congressional act in question was clearly without constitutional warrant. This evident repiignance of the statute to the Con- stitution was the first question decided b^ the court. The second point in the decision related Vol. XIII.^. to the power of the court to declare the act null and void and to refuse to be bound thereby when its repugnance to the Constitution was once established. Chief Justice Marshall, who delivered the oiiinion of the court, declared that if two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each, and if a law be in opposition to the Constitution so that the court would have to decide the case conform- ably to the law disregarding the Constitution, or confornuibly to the Constitution disregarding the law, the court must decide which of these con- flicting rules governs the case. If then, he said, the courts are to regard the Constitution, and if the Constitution is supreme over any ordinary statute, the Constitution and not the statute must govern the case to which they both apply. Marshall's argument was readily accepted as the only correct and just rule, and thus was laid the foundation of a judicial prerogative which has immensely influenced the legal and constitutional development of the United States — a [jower, too, which is peculiar to the American courts. MAR'CASITE (Fr. marcassite. Sp. mar- qui-aita, from Ar. margashltha, from raqnaliu. to speckle, to embellish ) . An iron disulphide that crystallizes in the orthorhombie system, has a metallic lustre, is of a pale bronze-yellow color, and resembles pyrite, from which it dirt'ers only in crystalline form. It is found in Bohemia, Saxony, Hungary, and in the United States at various localities in Xew York, Massachusetts. Connecticut, and Xew Hampshire. The mineral is mined in some parts of Europe for its sulphur, and for the ferrous sulphate that may be made from it. The word was applied inditlerently to crystallized varieties of iron sulphide until 1845. when it was retained exclusively for the ortho- rhombic variety. MARCATO, ni-ir-ka'ti'i (It., marked). In music, a term signifying in a strongly accentu- ated manner. MARCEAU, mar'so', Fr.N(;'OIS Seveein Des- GR.vviEi;s ( I7l)11-9t)). A soldier of the French Revolution, born at Chartres. He joined the army as a private at the age of si.xteen. partici- pated actively in the capture of the Bastille, and in 1702 was in the Army of the Ardennes com- manded by Lafayette. His services under West- ermann in La Vendee made him general of divi- sion in 1793. With Kleber he crushed the re- bellion at Cholet, then fought under .Jourdan at Fleurus. and in 1795 and 179(5 on the rthine. at CoI)lenz among other places. A Prussian sharp- shooter mortally wounded him at Altenkirehen. In 1SS9 his remains were placed in the Pantheon at Paris. MARCEI/, mar'sel'. Etienxe (?-1.35S). Pro- vost of the merchants of Paris from December. 1355, until his death. After the battle of Poitiers (q.v. ). JIarcel took the entire govern- ment of Paris into his owni hands. To check the abuses to which the citizens were subjected, he had two of the most prominent officials of the King put to death. In order not to be obliged to obey the commands of King .Tnlin, who was in the hands of the English. Marcel induced the Dauphin to take the regency. Finding the Re- gent opposed to him. he sought aid from Charles the Bad. King nf Xavnrre. from the .Tacquerie (q.v.), and finally from the English. This made Iiim unpopular and he was slain by a rising, on
