Theatres and other places of Public Amusement, licensed by law,
are kindred to inns or public conveyances, though less noticed by
jurisprudence. But, like their prototypes, they undertake to provide
for the public under sanction of law. They are public institutions,
regulated, if not created, by law, enjoying privileges, and in
consideration thereof assuming duties, kindred to those of the inn
and the public conveyance. From essential reason, the rule should be
the same with all. As the inn cannot close its doors, or the public
conveyance refuse a seat, to any paying traveller, decent in condition,
so must it be with the theatre and other places of public amusement.
Here are institutions whose peculiar object is “the pursuit of
happiness,” which has been placed among the Equal Rights of All. How
utterly irrational the pretension to outrage a large portion of the
community! The law can lend itself to no such intolerable absurdity;
and this, I insist, shall be declared by Congress.