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Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Legal History

Calvert Versus Carroll: The Quit-Rent Controversy Between Maryland's Founding Families, Garrett Power Sep 2009

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

Garrett Power

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 and …


The Residential Segregation Of Baltimore's Jews: Restrictive Covenants Or Gentlemen's Agreement?, Garrett Power Sep 2009

The Residential Segregation Of Baltimore's Jews: Restrictive Covenants Or Gentlemen's Agreement?, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

No abstract provided.


High Society: The Building Height Limitation On Baltimore's Mt. Vernon Place, Garrett Power Sep 2009

High Society: The Building Height Limitation On Baltimore's Mt. Vernon Place, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

The "Anti Skyscraper" Law of 1904 is often described as Maryland's first zoning law and one of the first zoning laws in the United States. But there is more. Behind this dusty statute is a story of speculation, selfishness, collusion and changing social values, which takes a century and a half to unfold and which has something to say about the role of government in regulating the use of land.


Deconstructing The Slums Of Baltimore, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Deconstructing The Slums Of Baltimore, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

No abstract provided.


Entail In Two Cities: A Comparative Study Of Long Term Leases In Birmingham, England And Baltimore, Maryland 1700-1900, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Entail In Two Cities: A Comparative Study Of Long Term Leases In Birmingham, England And Baltimore, Maryland 1700-1900, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

Urban planning is often thought of as a conscious collection of governmental choices made as to the shape and social structure of the city. Thoughtful and forward looking public policies are viewed as mapping out the future. Overlooked or understated in this estimation are the less purposeful influences on the urban morphology and city sociology. This paper examines one such influence, land tenure, by taking a comparative look at the residential development of Birmingham, England, and Baltimore, Maryland, between 1700 and 1900. Birmingham and Baltimore both housed their working class populations in densely-packed dwellings with shared party walls. And both …


Apartheid Baltimore Style: The Residential Segregation Ordinances Of 1910-1913, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Apartheid Baltimore Style: The Residential Segregation Ordinances Of 1910-1913, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

On May 15, 1911, Baltimore Mayor J. Barry Mahool signed into law an ordinance for “preserving the peace, preventing conflict and ill feeling between the white and colored races in Baltimore City.” This ordinance provided for the use of separate blocks by African American and whites and was the first such law in the nation directly aimed at segregating black and white homeowners. This article considers the historical significance of Baltimore’s first housing segregation law.


The Unwisdom Of Allowing City Growth To Work Out Its Own Destiny, Garrett Power Sep 2009

The Unwisdom Of Allowing City Growth To Work Out Its Own Destiny, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

No abstract provided.


The Carpenter And The Crocodile, Garrett Power Sep 2009

The Carpenter And The Crocodile, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

Pre-revolutionary Baltimore Town grew rapidly in commerce and population. Its harbor on the Chesapeake Bay served a larger trading area than any other American seaport at the time. In the 17770s two young fortune seekers - Leonard Harbaugh, carpenter and Christopher Hughes, silversmith - arrived in Baltimore from Ireland. This paper explores the role that each played in developing Baltimore's physical, monetary and legal landscape.


Parceling Out Land In Baltimore, 1632-1796, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Parceling Out Land In Baltimore, 1632-1796, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

No abstract provided.


Public Service And Private Interests: A Chronicle Of The Professional Life Of Philip B. Perlman, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Public Service And Private Interests: A Chronicle Of The Professional Life Of Philip B. Perlman, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

No abstract provided.


Pyrrhic Victory: Daniel Goldman's Defeat Of Zoning In The Maryland Court Of Appeals, Garrett Power Sep 2009

Pyrrhic Victory: Daniel Goldman's Defeat Of Zoning In The Maryland Court Of Appeals, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

Nowadays government regulation of the use of urban land is taken for granted. Such was not always the case. Some sixty years ago, the Maryland Court of Appeals held it unconstitutional for Zoning Commissioner J. Frank Crowther to deny a request for a permit to operate a tailor shop in the basement of a Eutaw Place home. This paper examines the case of Goldman v. Crowther. Goldman's story reads like a comic melodrama with a tragic ending. But the saga also illuminates the social condition - it sheds light and casts shadows on the practice of xenophobia, the nature of …


Luther Martin, Maryland And The Constitution, William L. Reynolds Apr 2009

Luther Martin, Maryland And The Constitution, William L. Reynolds

William L. Reynolds

Reviews the life and contributions of Maryland lawyer and scholar Luther Martin (1748-1826).