SALE OF PATENT RIGHTS.
The SPEAKER took up Mr. Miller's bill [H. R. 115] to repeal the act of April 23, 1869, to regulate the sale of patent rights, etc., in its order on the third reading.
Mr. MILLER. The act proposed to be repealed is in the Third Indiana Statutes, page 364. It took effect in 1869 without the signature of the Governor, It is a good law, but it is in contravention of the Constitution of the United States. It has been so decided, because the laws of Congress authorize any man who has received a patent to sell it in any of the States of the Union. The only trouble with the law is that it is a dead letter, and its enforcement makes a man liable for false imprisonment.
The bill was finally passed the House of Representatives--yeas, 88; nays, 0.
