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Legal History

Legal History Publications

Napoleonic Wars

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Maryland Insurance Co. V. Woods, Andrew Weissenberg Jan 2014

Maryland Insurance Co. V. Woods, Andrew Weissenberg

Legal History Publications

Maryland Insurance Company v. Woods, 10 U.S. 29 (1810). In 1803, Britain utilized France’s interference in the Civil Swiss Strife as a pretext to continue its occupancy of Malta, effectively ending the short-lived Treaty of Amiens. As the most impressive Naval Power in the world, Britain proceeded to blockade French, Spanish, and Dutch ports. In 1805, Williams Woods purchased two insurance policies from The Maryland Insurance Company, a successful and lucrative Baltimore marine insurance institution. The two policies covered the ship, The William and Mary, and its cargo. The policy assured the journey from Baltimore to Laguira, with “liberty at …


Marine Insurance And Mercantile Enterprise Through The Lens Of The Baltimore Insurance Company V. Mcfadon 4 H.& J. 31 (1815), Catherine Gonzalez Jan 2012

Marine Insurance And Mercantile Enterprise Through The Lens Of The Baltimore Insurance Company V. Mcfadon 4 H.& J. 31 (1815), Catherine Gonzalez

Legal History Publications

This essay contextualizes the case of The Baltimore Insurance Company v. McFadon, tracing the dispute from its origin to its disposition in the Maryland Court of Appeals in 1815. The case, which centered on whether mutual claims could be set-off against each other in a suit involving an open insurance policy, is illuminating as to the evolution of marine insurance, trade between Baltimore and the West Indies in the late eighteenth century, and the impact of the Napoleonic Wars on American mercantile enterprise. By examining the case through the lens of this historical study, it becomes apparent that the …