Law Commons^™

Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation And Executive Power, Henry L. Chambers Jr.

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No abstract provided.

Warts And All: How The Plattsburgh Should Change The Way We Look At The Face Of Baltimore Maritime History, David Seaton

Legal History Publications

In 1820 the Plattsburgh was condemned for violating federal anti-slave trade legislation. This little known, rarely cited Supreme Court decision is important, because it pierces the veneer of romanticism that has been allowed to sugar over our recollection of Baltimore's maritime history. The case indicates that some of the most prominent ship owners and captains at the time, including Thomas Sheppard, John N. D'Arcy, Henry Didier, and Thomas Boyle, have links to the slave trade. This paper explores the cruel realities of the international slave trade, the ineffective federal laws aimed at prohibiting it, and the efforts by merchants to …

Redeeming And Living With Evil, Mark A. Graber

Faculty Scholarship

Jack Balkin’s Constitutional Redemption and Sandy Levinson’s Constitutional Faith understand the problem of constitutional evil quite differently than Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil. Balkin and Levinson regard constitutional redemption and faith as rooted in the possibility that Americans will eventually defeat evil. Constitutional Evil takes the far more pessimistic view that evil will never be defeated. Constitutional faith and redemption in our permanently fallen state is rooted in the possibility that Americans will find ways of living with each other peaceably knowing that the price of union is the continual obligation to make what the abolitionist …

Baptiste V. De Volunbrun 5 H. & J. 86 (Md 1820): The Events Surrounding An Early Nineteenth-Century Freedom Petition Before The Maryland Court Of Appeals, Kurt Ellerbe

Legal History Publications

BAPTISTE V. DE VOLUNBRUN 5 H. & J. 86 (Md. 1820): In Jean Baptiste’s 1820 freedom petition we have not only a slavery case typical of the region and period, but also a compelling and informative narrative from the beginning of the end of North America’s nearly two hundred and fifty year era of slavery. This epic has its roots in the some of the earliest African arrivals to the new world and was significantly influenced by the major trends in philosophy that immediately preceded its commencement, as well as a concurrent and burgeoning American abolitionist movement. It features questionable …

The Impact Of The Thirteenth Amendment On The Common Law, David S. Bogen

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Congressional Authority To Interpret The Thirteenth Amendment: A Response To Professor Tsesis, Jennifer Mason Mcaward

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The Thirteenth Amendment, Interest Convergence, And The Badges And Incidents Of Slavery, William M. Carter Jr.

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This article explores the gap between the Thirteenth Amendment's promise and its implementation.

Involuntary Servitude, Public Accommodations Laws, And The Legacy Of Heart Of Atlanta Motel V. United States , Linda C. Mcclain

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Why Originalism Is Of So Little Use In Interpreting The Thirteenth Amendment, Henry L. Chambers

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The 13th Amendment affords two very different visions. One vision limits the 13th Amendment’s scope to ending slavery and involuntary servitude without more. The second expands the 13th Amendment’s scope to include an anti-subordination principle. Proponents of both visions rely on originalism to support their visions. Unfortunately, originalism does not help us reach a clearly correct conclusion regarding the scope of the 13th Amendment.

That is fine, because the core question regarding the interpretation of the 13th Amendment ought to be whether the amendment is constitutionally transformative. That is, does the 13th Amendment announce a constitutional principle that requires that …

Getting Right Without Lincoln, Daniel W. Hamilton

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This short piece is taken from a review of the three important books considered below. This review is part of my current exploration of the historiography of slavery and the Constitution in Civil War legal history.

Brian McGinty, Lincoln and the Court; Stephen C. Neff, Justice in Blue and Gray: A Legal History of the Civil War; Lea VanderVelde, Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery’s Frontier

The Slavery And Involuntary Servitude Of Immigrant Workers: Two Sides Of The Same Coin, Maria L. Ontiveros

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No abstract provided.

The Thirteenth Amendment And Constitutional Theory, Earl Maltz

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States Rights, Southern Hypocrisy, And The Crisis Of The Union, Paul Finkelman

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The Reconstruction Power, Jack M. Balkin

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Slavery And The Phenomenology Of Torture, Sanford Levinson

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From Racial Discrimination To Separate But Equal: The Common Law Impact Of The Thirteenth Amendment, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

Many forces produced the shift in the United States from the acceptance of slavery and racial inequality to the doctrine of separate but equal. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and authorized legislation to enforce that abolition, but these well-known direct effects are only part of the story. This paper examines the Amendment’s indirect impact on racial discrimination – furthering a standard of equality in public relationships without threatening the existing racial separation. The Amendment is evidence of a change in values that justified overturning prior decisions, and abolition created a new context for legislation and common law decisions. It reinforced …

The Lutheran Church During The Civil War: The Case Of Rev. Zimmerman, Jennifer H. Cornely

Legal History Publications

In 1864 a pastor walked into the Superior Court of Baltimore and sued his Congregation. The pastor, Reverend Leonhard Frederick Zimmerman (Rev. Zimmerman), wanted to be reinstated to his position as pastor of the St. Stephen’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. Stephen’s), following a close vote calling for his dismissal. The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed the reinstatement of the Rev. Zimmerman, however neither case discussed the underlying reason for his dismissal. In this project it was necessary to explore the Lutheran Church during the Civil War by studying the history of the Lutheran Church in America, the history of …

Coston V. Coston, 25 Md. 500 (Md. 1866): The Plight Of One Family Out Of Many Fighting Apprenticeship In Reconstruction Maryland, Zachary S. Schultz

Legal History Publications

The abolition of slavery in the State of Maryland, pursuant to the Maryland Constitution of 1864, resulted in the emancipation of thousands of black children, who, because of an unrepealed section of the Maryland Black codes, were quickly apprenticed to their former masters under the guise of a legal apprenticeship statute. Within this period of Maryland history is the story of Leah Coston and her two boys, Simon and Washington, who were apprenticed to their former master, Samuel S. Costen, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This paper contextualizes the case of Coston v. Coston within the times and provides …

Dangerous Woman: Elizabeth Key's Freedom Suit - Subjecthood And Racialized Identity In Seventheenth Century Colonial Virginia, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

Elizabeth Key, an African-Anglo woman living in seventeenth century colonial Virginia sued for her freedom after being classified as a negro by the overseers of her late master’s estate. Her lawsuit is one of the earliest freedom suits in the English colonies filed by a person with some African ancestry. Elizabeth’s case also highlights those factors that distinguished indenture from life servitude—slavery in the mid-seventeenth century. She succeeds in securing her freedom by crafting three interlinking legal arguments to demonstrate that she was a member of the colonial society in which she lived. Her evidence was her asserted ancestry—English; her …

The Annapolis Poll Books Of 1800 And 1804: African American Voting In The Early Republic, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Slave Law In The Americas, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.