Law Commons^™

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.

Arsenic And Old Dirt, Katy Jackman, Rene Parks, Rebecca Steitz

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

Discusses the pollution of Swann Park in Baltimore.

Urban Legends Of The Inner Harbor, Andrew Keir, Eric Hergenroeder, Chris Montague-Breakwell, Daniella Einik, Patrick Smith

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

Examines the toxicity of water in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and efforts to clean up sewage and trash that result from runoff.

Taylor V. Mayor And City Council Of Baltimore: Baltimore Sewerage And The City’S Agenda In The Early Twentieth Century, Christian Mann

Legal History Publications

Taylor v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore was decided by the Court of Appeals in 1917. Nettie Taylor sued the city in 1914 because of the disagreeable smell coming from the newly constructed Back River Sewage Treatment Plant. She sued for damages done to her hotel property by the odor. Taylor’s hotel was situated on a tract of land on Back River, in the Essex area. The hotel Taylor owned was partly a brothel as well as a saloon, which was a common establishment in the surrounding area. The Court of Appeals ruled in Taylor’s favor, ordering the city …

Warren V. Fitzgerald, 189 Md. 476 (1947): A Crossroads In Baltimore’S Mass Transit History, Emily Jaskot

Legal History Publications

In 1943, trolley ridership was at an all time high in Baltimore. The Baltimore Transit Company experienced record profits, and company leadership expected to continue to expand trolley service in and around the city. By 1947, the company had completely changed course and was in the process of abandoning 170 of its 312 miles of trolley track line and nearly half of its trolley routes, at a loss of more than 21 million dollars. The trolleys were to be replaced with new diesel buses. In 1963 the last streetcar ran in Baltimore.

The Circuit Court and Court of Appeals case …

Jack Lewis: An Undertaker's Gamble, James Furgol, Rachel Granfield

Legal History Publications

On December 15, 1933, the case of Jack Lewis, Inc. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore concluded with a denial of certiorari from the United States Supreme Court. After over a year and a half of litigation, Jack Lewis, Inc. had to close the shutters on their newly acquired funeral parlor at 1804 Eutaw Place, in the Jewish community of Mount Royal.

The company had its roots in the “downtown” Eastern European Jewish neighborhood while Eutaw Place was home to a number of “uptown” German Jews who were integrated with wealthy gentiles. Not only did the Supreme Court’s decision …

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 …