Legal History Commons^™

Interest And Irritation: Brown V. Maryland And The Making Of A National Economy, Henry P. Callegary

Legal History Publications

This paper examines the United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Maryland, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419 (1827), which struck down Maryland’s licensing fee on wholesalers of imported goods. In doing so, the Court reaffirmed its commitment to a national economic policy, instead of a state-centric system. This paper explores the context of the decision, including profiles of the parties involved, the attorneys for both sides, the lower court decisions, and the majority opinion and dissent from the United States Supreme Court. Additionally, this paper follows the lineage of the case through to the present day, examining its doctrinal impact …

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 …

Mayor V. Fairfield Improvement Company: The Public's Apprehension To Accept Nineteenth Century Medical Advancements, Ryan Wiggins, Daniella Einik

Legal History Publications

The following paper first outlines the story behind Mayor v. Fairfield and the procedural progression of the case through the court of equity and the Court of Appeals. Second, the paper discusses nineteenth century medical views on leprosy and infectious diseases and the reluctance of the public to accept these medical views. Finally, the paper analyzes how both medical opinion and public perception impacted public health laws and judicial opinions at the time.

Garitee V. Mayor And City Council Of Baltimore: A Gilded Age Debate On The Role And Limits Of Local Government, Kevin Attridge, James Risk

Legal History Publications

Politically, Garitee v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore was part of the larger on-going debate on the role of government. During the Gilded Age, the Federal Government assumed a laissez-faire stance toward business, but the Progressive Era that immediately followed witnessed a restraint of business through the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the trust-busting administration of President Theodore Roosevelt.

State and city government produced the same debate, but in a somewhat different fashion. Baltimore’s government expanded in the 1870’s with the creation of City Hall, the City Library, the harbor board and several other municipal services. The …

At A Crossroads In The Charm City: Northern Central, United Railways And Power Politics At The Dawn Of Twentieth Century Baltimore - Northern Central Rr Co. V. United Railways & Electrinc Co. 105 Md. 345, Andrew R. Mccarty, David S. Warner

Legal History Publications

In June 1905, attorneys for the Northern Central Railway Company filed suit in Baltimore Superior Court against the United Railways and Electric Company. The suit charged that United Railways owed Northern Central for a portion of the expenses incurred by Northern to repair two bridges in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. Northern Central’s railroad lines ran under the bridges and United Railways’ streetcar lines ran across them. The amount claimed was relatively small for a company the size of the Northern Central and the possibility of collecting somewhat remote even if the case were decided in its favor. However, the …

Calvert Versus Carroll: The Quit-Rent Controversy Between Maryland's Founding Families, Garrett Power

Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines the historical background behind the 1826 U.S. Supreme Court case of Cassell v. Carroll. The legal merits in the case concerned arcane questions of feudal property law which the Court avoided and left unanswered. Today the case is of little jurisprudential significance. It is the historical record behind Cassell v. Carroll that tells a story that continues to be of interest and importance today. It provides a window on the economic and social life in provincial Maryland. It tells the tale of two dysfunctional dynasties—the Barons of Baltimore (the Calverts), who lost their faith, their fortune …

Law And Letters: A Detailed Examination Of David Hoffman's Life And Career, Bill Sleeman

Faculty Scholarship

David Hoffman (1784-1854) has been cast as America's first legal ethicist and as the founder of one of the nation’s first original methods of legal instruction. While these interpretations of his life are certainly true, Hoffman’s life and career encompassed so much more than that. With few exceptions researchers have focused on Hoffman’s legal career and have left historians to wonder about his other pursuits. This article will review, in individual sections, the many facets of Hoffman's life and career in an effort to provide a more complete picture than has previously existed.

Precursors Of Rosa Parks: Maryland Transportation Cases Between The Civil War And The Beginning Of World War I, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

When Rosa Parks refused to move to a seat in the back of the bus in Montgomery, it sparked the boycott and was a critical event in the Civil Rights movement. But Mrs. Parks was the culmination of a long tradition of resistance to segregation. Many teachers, ministers, businessmen and ordinary citizens refused to accept second class treatment on the railways and waterways of Maryland between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I, and took their protest to the courts. Facing hostile state courts after the Civil War, African-American plaintiffs needed to access the …

Building Baltimore: The Baltimore City Interstate Highway System, Terry Wikberg

Legal History Publications

This paper focuses on the history and impact of the federal highway system as it developed in Baltimore City. The paper focuses on the different plans proposed and the struggles surrounding their implementation.

Democracy's Incursion Into The Eastern Shore: The 1870 Election In Chestertown, C. Christopher Brown

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Transformation Of The Fourteenth Amendment: Reflections From The Admission Of Maryland's First Black Lawyers, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

October 10, 1985, was the one hundredth anniversary of the admission to the bar of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City of Everett J. Waring, the first black lawyer admitted to practice before the state courts in Maryland. This article explores the efforts of African-American lawyers to establish the right to practice law in Maryland and their role in the larger struggle for political and civil rights.