History Commons^™

Considering The “Special Considerations”: The Treatment Of Female Inmates In The People’S Republic Of China Since 1994, Niklas Berry

Madison Historical Review

The purpose of this paper is to historicize contemporary gendered legal practices in the People’s Republic of China and to demonstrate that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, paternalistic assumptions rooted in Confucianism still inform the treatment of female prisoners today. Though China underwent massive political and economic shifts after the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, certain longstanding societal principles were preserved in modern China, including long-held paternalistic stereotypes about the physical and mental fragility of women. These precepts undergirded the PRC’s reforms of its judicial and criminal systems …

The Power Of Law Codes, Legal Tradition, And Administrative Institutions And The Rise Of The Kingdom Of Sicily From Norman To Aragonese Rule, Joseph Mancuso

Theses and Dissertations

The Kingdom of Sicily, founded in 1130 by Roger II de Hauteville, is an example of a medieval European kingdom with an advanced understanding of law, judicial processes, and administrative offices that developed from its creation by the Norman kings to its incorporation into the Crown of Aragon. A state rarely focused on in medieval European studies, its advanced understanding of law is reflected through the law codes of Roger II, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and the Aragonese kings James II, Frederick III, and Peter II of Sicily. These kings knew that in order to effectively grow the …

"The Best Interests Of The Child:" Parental Claims In Nebraska Child Custody Cases, 1877 1924, Esme Krohn

Digital Legal Research Lab

No abstract provided.

Ella P. Stewart And The Benefits Of Owning A Neighborhood Pharmacy, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This Essay is the first to explain how and why Ella P. Stewart, who was among the first Black women to earn a doctoral degree in Pharmacy, used her status as a small business owner to protect the limited set of legal rights that were available to African-Americans in the twentieth century. It also describes how Stewart’s early personal and professional experiences informed her subsequent public service career. Additionally, this Essay highlights the various ways that Stewart expanded the real freedoms that Black Americans enjoyed by guaranteeing they received a fair share of public goods or services. It concludes by …

One Among Many: Charlotte Kolmitz,Assistant U.S. Attorney In Seattle, 1918 -1925, Anna Synya

Digital Legal Research Lab

No abstract provided.

The Original Meaning Of The Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause, The Right Of Natural Liberty, And Executive Discretion, John Harrison

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The Habeas Corpus Suspension Clause of Article I, Section 9, is primarily a limit on Congress’s authority to authorize detention by the executive. It is not mainly concerned with the remedial writ of habeas corpus, but rather with the primary right of natural liberty. Suspensions of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus are statutes that vest very broad discretion in the executive to decide which individuals to hold in custody. Detention of combatants under the law of war need not rest on a valid suspension, whether the combatant is an alien or a citizen of the United States. …

The Jurisprudence Of The First Woman Judge, Florence Allen: Challenging The Myth Of Women Judging Differently, Tracy A. Thomas

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article delves into the life and work of Judge [Florence] Allen to provide insight to the contributions and jurisprudence of the first woman judge. For history questions what difference putting a woman on the bench might have made. Part I explores Allen’s early influences on her intellectual development grounded in her progressive and politically active family, and her close network of female professional friends. Part II discusses her pivotal work with the women’s suffrage movement, working with the national organizations in New York and leading the legal and political efforts in Ohio. This proactive commitment to gender justice, however, …

Anti-Anarchist Legislation And The Road To The 1919 Red Hysteria, Evan Crumb

College Honors Program

In my thesis, I connect anti-anarchist legislation from the early 1900s with the excesses of the 1919 Red Scare. I tie the actions of anarchist leaders Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman to legislative responses, which were then weaponized after the hysteria of the Russian Revolution culminating in the deportations of 249 Russian “radicals” on the Soviet Ark. I find that the Supreme Court’s legal interpretation of the 1903 Immigration Act’s anti-anarchist provision in Turner v. Williams (1904), and the 1902 Criminal Anarchy Act in Gitlow v. New York (1925) were rational—understandable—within their legal and social context.

My legal history bridges …

Surveying Seattle Legal History: An Examination Of Judge Thomas Burke, Ashley Morrison

UCARE Research Products

In the United States judiciary system, judges are assumed to be unbiased in their legal decisions on cases. In many cases, unfortunately, this is rarely the reality. By examining Judge Thomas Burke specifically, a survey of Seattle's legal environment can be revealed. From Judge Burke's connections with the railroad industry and protection of Chinese laborers during anti-Chinese riots reveals his desire for economic gain. With Judge Burke only presiding over two habeas corpus cases, neither dealing with anti-Chinese riots or the legality of Chinese laborers, no concrete conclusion can be drawn in that regard. Even still, Judge Burke's continued support …

Complicated Lives: Free Blacks In Virginia, 1619-1865, Sherri L. Burr

Faculty Book Display Case

Would the United States have developed differently if Virginia had not passed a law in 1670 proclaiming all subsequently arriving Africans as servants for life, or slaves? What if the state had not stripped all Free Blacks and Indians of voting rights in 1723, or outlawed interracial sex for 337 years?

Complicated Lives upends the pervasive belief that all Africans landing on the shores of Virginia beginning in late August 1619, became slaves. In reality, many of these kidnap victims received the status of indentured servants. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of free African Americans in the South and North owned …

Fighting Rebellion, Criminalizing Dissent: Governmental Responses To Political Criminality In Mexico And Colombia, 1870s - 1910s, Adrian Alzate Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Political Crimes represent one of the most neglected areas in the historical scholarship on modern Latin America. It is an enduring absence that, for decades, has prevented historians from developing richer understandings about the functioning of politics, the evolution of legal phenomena, and the workings of both war and peace in the region. This dissertation addresses this historiographical void trough a comparative study of governmental responses to political criminality in Mexico and Colombia between the 1870s and the 1910s –years that frame the rise and fall of the Mexican Porfiriato and the Colombian Regeneration.

A study of political, legal, and …

Courtroom Wars: Constitutional Battles Over Conscription In The Civil War North, Nicholas Matthew Mosvick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In February 1863, Congress considered a bill to create for the first-time conscription at the national level. Democratic politicians vigorously protested that the proposed act was unconstitutional and destroyed the state militias. When Congress passed the Enrollment Act, commonly known as the “Conscription Act,” on March 3, 1863, outcry from Democrats about the unconstitutionality of national conscription immediately followed. In New York and Pennsylvania, Democratic newspaper editors and politicians decreed the act the worst among the Lincoln war measures in threatening to subvert the constitutional republic and to transform the United States into a despotism under the control of an …

The Law Book: From Hammurabi To The International Criminal Court, 250 Milestones In The History Of Law (Sterling), Michael Roffer

Books

The Law Book explores 250 of the most significant legal issues, cases, trials, and events that have profoundly changed our world. Although the heaviest emphasis is on American law it also touches on more than a dozen countries and the European Union, laws relating to Antarctica and Outer Space, and principles of international law. Among the topics it explores are the earliest legal codes, the role of juries, slavery and emancipation, civil rights, Native Americans, copyright, the press and free speech, immigration, censorship and obscenity, the environment, war and international relations, war crimes and trials, the insanity defense, taxation, prohibition, …

The Will Of The Master: Testamentary Manumission In Virginia, 1800-1858, Catherine Wisnosky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis explores the issues surrounding testamentary manumission, the ability of

masters to manumit slaves via their will in Virginia during the first half of the nineteenth

century. Using 37 cases in which the will was challenged and appealed up to the Supreme

Court of Virginia, I argue that in addition to the complexities of adjudicating a contested

will, the arguments and opinions offered by lawyers and judges in these cases show the

evolving discourse surrounding in slavery in Virginia during this period.

After developing a consistent and coherent body of law to regulate the manumission

of slaves in the …

The Language Of Law: Interpreting Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents, Arthur Mitchell Fraas

Arthur Mitchell Fraas

The documentary record produced in the course of 19th century American legal proceedings remains one of the greatest sources for understanding the everyday lives of the middling and non-elite who otherwise rarely rise to the surface of the historical record. This documentation though has often gone unused or misused thanks to the circumstances of its production and the difficulties of parsing the specialized language used within. Documents produced for use in a courtroom always have multiple layers of meaning, each intended with different purposes and audiences in mind. Formulaic language and confusing tangles of proceedings and filings too often get …

The Origins And Meaning Of “Vacancies That May Happen During The Recess” In The Constitution’S Recess Appointments Clause, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

There has been longstanding uncertainty about the meaning of “the Recess” and “Vacancies that may happen” in the Constitution’s Recess Appointments Clause. This Article finds that both “the Recess” and close variants of “Vacancies that may happen” were standard terms in Founding-Era legislative practice, and appear copiously in legislative records. Those records inform us that “the Recess” means only the intersession recess and that a vacancy “happens” only when it first arises.

Slaves To Contradictions: 13 Myths That Sustained Slavery, Wilson Huhn

Akron Law Faculty Publications

People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as “good people.” To achieve this we tell each other stories – we create myths – about ourselves and our society. These myths may be true or they may be false. The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it. In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology – an integrated web of mutually supporting stories. This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the …

Founding-Era Conventions And The Meaning Of The Constitution’S “Convention For Proposing Amendments”, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, two thirds of state legislatures may require Congress to call a “Convention for proposing Amendments.” Because this procedure has never been used, commentators frequently debate the composition of the convention and the rules governing the application and convention process. However, the debate has proceeded almost entirely without knowledge of the many multi-colony and multi-state conventions held during the eighteenth century, of which the Constitutional Convention was only one. These conventions were governed by universally-accepted convention practices and protocols. This Article surveys those conventions and shows how their practices and protocols shaped the meaning …

Ancient Hebrew Militia Law, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

The history of the laws of warfare and of arms possession in the ancient Hebrew kingdoms.

Slaves To Contradictions: 13 Myths That Sustained Slavery, Wilson Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as “good people.” To achieve this we tell each other stories – we create myths – about ourselves and our society. These myths may be true or they may be false. The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it. In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology – an integrated web of mutually supporting stories. This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the …

In Memorium: Bernard Wolfman, Michael A. Fitts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Comparative Perspectives On History And Historians: Essays In Memory Of Bryce Lyon (1920-2007), David Nicholas, James M. Murray, Bernard S. Bachrach

Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures

Comparative Perspectives on History and Historians: Essays in Memory of Bryce Lyon (1920-2007) features a section of appreciations of Bryce Lyon from the three editors, R. C. Van Caenegem, and Walter Prevenier, followed by three sections on the major areas on which Lyon's research concentrated: the legacy of Henri Pirenne, constitutional and legal history of England and the Continent, and the economic history of the Low Countries. Original essays by Bernard S. Bachrach, David S. Bachrach, Jan Dumolyn, Caroline Dunn, Jelle Haemers, John H. A. Munro, James M. Murray, Anthony Musson, David Nicholas, W. Mark Ormrod, Walter Prevenier, Jeff Rider, …

From India To The Atlantic World: "Indian Grants" And The Imperial Jurisprudence Of The Eighteenth Century, Arthur Mitchell Fraas

Arthur Mitchell Fraas

No abstract provided.

Две Стороны Одной Победы: 200-Летие Отечественной Войны 1812 Года, Leonid G. Berlyavskiy, Alexandr Vlasov

Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

Not too will be events, comparable on the importance with a victory of Russian armies in war with Napoleonic army much. For the Russian history its value is persistent. No previous wars, even the Tatar-Mongolian yoke, were perceived by consciousness national so dreadfully, never before a shock bore in itself so catastrophic potential for Russia

Высшее Образование И Наука В России (1890- 1900 Годы): Традиционные «Места Знания», Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

The "revisionist" point of view quite often meets recently on pages of the special literature - in a counterbalance to the former scheme of immemorial opposition of liberal intelligency and the inert bureaucracy, anxious is exclusive preserving of social order both the satisfied stagnancy and darkness of the lowest classes. Last point of view canonised in numerous Soviet works (even with the necessary reservations on liberal incompleteness and potential adoptive «bourgeois intelligency») itself goes back to images of antiautocratic publicism of the beginning of the XX-th century. At the same time this confrontational picture - adjusted for subjectivity of participants …

Эрнест Кольман: «Мы Не Должны Были Так Жить», Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

Leonid G. Berlyavskiy

The article is devoted Ernest Kolman (1892-1979) - to one of visible organizers of the Soviet science of 30th years and a Czechoslovak science of the post-war period, the Doctor of Philosophy, the academician of Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia.

How The British Gun Control Program Precipitated The American Revolution, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

Abstract: This Article chronologically reviews the British gun control which precipitated the American Revolution: the 1774 import ban on firearms and gun powder; the 1774-75 confiscations of firearms and gun powder, from individuals and from local governments; and the use of violence to effectuate the confiscations. It was these events which changed a situation of rising political tension into a shooting war. Each of these British abuses provides insights into the scope of the modern Second Amendment.

From the events of 1774-75, we can discern that import restrictions or bans on firearms or ammunition are constitutionally suspect — at least …

Readers, Scribes, And Collectors: The Dissemination Of Legal Knowledge In Eighteenth-Century British South Asia, Arthur Mitchell Fraas

Arthur Mitchell Fraas

This draft paper - first presented at the Middle Eastern Studies Association annual conference in 2012 - looks at the circulation of legal knowledge in print and manuscript in eighteenth-century British India.

Bad News For John Marshall, David B. Kopel, Gary Lawson

David B Kopel

In Bad News for Professor Koppelman: The Incidental Unconstitutionality of the Individual Mandate, we demonstrated that the individual mandate’s forced participation in commercial transactions cannot be justified under the Necessary and Proper Clause as the Clause was interpreted in McCulloch v. Maryland. Professor Andrew Koppelman’s response, Bad News for Everybody, wrongly conflates that argument with a wide range of interpretative and substantive positions that are not logically entailed by taking seriously the requirement that laws enacted under the Necessary and Proper Clause must be incidental to an enumerated power. His response is thus largely unresponsive to our actual arguments.

“Health Laws Of Every Description”: John Marshall’S Ruling On A Federal Health Care Law, David B. Kopel, Robert G. Natelson

David B Kopel

If John Marshall, the greatest of Chief Justices, were to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, how would he rule? Would the nationalist justice who, according to the New Deal Supreme Court, “described the Federal commerce power with a breadth never yet exceeded,” agree that federal control of health care was within that power?

In the fictional opinion below, Marshall rules on the constitutionality of a bill similar to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

We constructed this opinion chiefly from direct quotation and paraphrases of Marshall’s own words, …