The Winding Path to the Courthouse, 1778

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-121
Author(s):  
Carlton F.W. Larson
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
State Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Grand Jury ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Defense Counsel ◽  
Chester County ◽  
Extensive Property ◽  
County Courts ◽  
The Revolution

This chapter begins by summarizing the cases of misprision of treason heard in the county courts. The state government began a controversial attainder policy, a process that led to extensive property confiscations. The court of oyer and terminer, consisting of the three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, finally opened. Through grand-jury charges, the justices explained their understanding of treason law. Following the British evacuation of Philadelphia in June 1778, the state government sorted through charges of disloyalty against hundreds of individuals, eventually winnowing them down for trial that fall. The trial of Joseph Malin in Chester County in September 1778 was the first treason case heard by a Pennsylvania court during the Revolution. The defendant was represented by high-quality defense counsel, the court issued moderate rulings, and the jury acquitted the defendant, patterns that would recur in future cases.

The Reckoning

2021 ◽  
pp. 483-520
Author(s):  
Eric Van Young
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Grand Jury ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S

Alamán’s internal self-exile in Mexico City, when he hid for nearly two years only to emerge in 1834, is discussed in as much detail as is possible for a largely undocumented episode. Having left the government along with the other ministers during 1832, he was being pursued by agents of the state and political enemies to stand trial before a congressional grand jury for his involvement in the judicial murder of Vicente Guerrero. The chapter also discusses his cordial relationship with the U.S. envoy who replaced the recalled Joel Poinsett, Anthony Butler. The fall of the Anastasio Bustamante government to an uprising led by Santa Anna is narrated, along with Alamán’s eventual trial, his spirited defense of himself, the intervention of Carlos María de Bustamante (not the president) on his behalf before the Supreme Court, and the ex-minister’s exoneration at the hands of President Santa Anna.

Legal Positivism, Abolitionist Litigation, and the New Jersey Slave Case of 1845

1986 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Ernst
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Positivism ◽  
Supreme Court Justice ◽  
Defense Counsel ◽  
State Constitution ◽  
Chief Justice ◽  
The Future ◽  
Large Audience

At 10:00 A.M. on May 21, 1845, ‘the tall, straight figure and pale, grave face of the slave's friend, Alvan Stewart’, turned toward the justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court as he commenced his opening argument in the companion cases, State v. Post and State v. Van Beuren. In the ensuing hours, Stewart argued for the immediate abolition of slavery and black apprenticeship in New Jersey. Although Stewart relied upon many authorities, the justices and the attorneys for the defendants believed that his most promising argument was based upon the state constitution of 1844, the first of the state's fundamental laws to declare that ‘all men are by nature free and independent’. On the following day, the defense counsel—A.O. Zabriskie, a Hackensack attorney, and Joseph P. Bradley, the future U.S. Supreme Court Justice—spoke with ‘much energy and ingenuity’ until five o'clock. The reply of the ‘Abolition Ajax’ lasted until 10:30 and closed with an impassioned appeal to the justices. ‘Such was the impressiveness with which the closing appeal of the advocate for freedom was delivered’, a newspaperman reported, that none of the large audience wished to ‘break the spell his eloquence had cast upon the assembly’. At length, the bench arose, and Chief Justice Joseph Hornblower adjourned the court.

Administrative Reorganization in Iowa

1915 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-263
Author(s):  
F. E. Horack
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
State Government ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
The State ◽  
Board Of Education ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Des Moines ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Public Instruction ◽  
State Board Of Education

Apart from the agitation of such questions as the regulation of primary elections, equal suffrage, the initiative and referendum, and the debates on the establishment of the board of control of state institutions in 1898 and the creation of the state board of education in 1909, there has been little or no discussion of the problem of the reorganization of state government in Iowa until very recently. Indeed, a lively interest in the problems of reorganization seems first to have found expression in 1913 in the thirty-fifth general assembly which, besides endorsing the short ballot principle by providing for the appointment of the state superintendent of public instruction, the clerk of the supreme court, and the supreme court reporter, authorized the joint committee on retrenchment and reform to employ “expert accountants and efficiency engineers” and to “institute such changes in the administration of public affairs as will promote the efficiency and economical administration of the affairs of the State in its various departments.”It was in accordance with the legislation of March 17, 1913, that the firm of Quail, Parker & Co. was engaged to assist the joint committee on retrenchment and reform and under the direction and supervision of that committee “to examine and report upon the existing procedures incident to the transaction of the business of the State in the various offices and departments located at the seat of government in the city of Des Moines; and to make recommendations with a view to the betterment thereof.” The sum of $10,000 was appropriated to meet the expenses of the proposed investigations.

scholarly journals What to Do about Turnout Bias in American Elections: A Response to Wink and Weber

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 255-260
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Brunell
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
State Government ◽  
Census Data ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Congressional District ◽  
American Elections ◽  
2004 Election ◽  
The U.S

At the end of the 2006 term, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision with respect to the Texas redistricting controversy. While in its decision (LULAC v. Perry) the court struck down one of the newly drawn districts (the 23rd) the case is more notable for what the court did not do. The Court did not see anything in the Constitution indicating that state legislatures are restricted as to when redistricting ought to be done. Traditionally the process is done after the new census data is delivered, usually in years ending in 1, and the new districts are in effect for elections in years ending in a 2. The state government in Texas was still divided in 2001 and a federal court ended up drawing new district boundaries, but after the GOP gained control in the next election they decided to redraw the congressional district lines more to their advantage for the 2004 election. Moreover a big part of the litigation was the claim that the Republicans had treated the Democrats unfairly enough in the new map that it constituted a partisan gerrymander and the Court, the Democrats claimed, ought to step in and doing something about it. The Justices did not strike down the map on these grounds and it is still unclear to most observers if the Court will step into the fray at some late date with respect to this issue.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Chaitanya Lakkimsetti
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
State Government ◽  
South India ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Gender Identities ◽  
The Government ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

“We want employment, we want jobs, we want welfare.” This was a main slogan at a daylong dharna (protest) organized by a South India–based transgender and hijra group one humid summer afternoon in the city of Hyderabad in July 2015. The main goal of the dharna was to demand that the state government recognize transgender rights as recommended by India’s Supreme Court (SC). In 2014, for the first time in India’s history as an independent nation, the SC had recognized nonnormative gender identities as legal. It had also recommended that the government implement corresponding affirmative action policies in employment and education. There was a significant media presence and great interest in the dharna, whose organizers had mobilized a surprisingly large number of progressive groups to support their cause. It had been previously unthinkable that one of the most marginalized and stigmatized groups in the country could make demands of the state. When the day was over, the gathering had been a huge success that increased the visibility of the community while also showcasing its newfound political power....

Politični položaj na Slovenskem leta 1919

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2020) (2) ◽  
pp. 359-394
Author(s):  
Jurij Perovšek
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
New Era ◽  
Party Organisation ◽  
Western Border ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
First Time ◽  
Similar Development

For Slovenes in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes the year 1919 represented the final step to a new political beginning. With the end of the united all-Slovene liberal party organisation and the formation of separate liberal parties, the political party life faced a new era. Similar development was showing also in the Marxist camp. The Catholic camp was united. For the first time, Slovenes from all political camps took part in the state government politics and parliament work. They faced the diminishing of the independence, which was gained in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and the mutual fight for its preservation or abolition. This was the beginning of national-political separations in the later Yugoslav state. The year 1919 was characterized also by the establishment of the Slovene university and early occurrences of social discontent. A declaration about the new historical phenomenon – Bolshevism, had to be made. While the region of Prekmurje was integrated to the new state, the questions of the Western border and the situation with Carinthia were not resolved. For the Slovene history, the year 1919 presents a multi-transitional year.

Lifting the Veil

2014 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-55
Author(s):  
Scott Pittman
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
State Government ◽  
The State ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Red Scare ◽  
National Archives ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Hiring And Firing ◽  
And Control ◽  
California Schools

The story of anti-communism in California schools is a tale well and often told. But few scholars have appreciated the important role played by private surveillance networks. This article examines how privately funded and run investigations shaped the state government’s pursuit of leftist educators. The previously-secret papers of Major General Ralph H. Van Deman, which were opened to researchers at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., only a few years ago, show that the general operated a private spy network out of San Diego and fed information to military, federal, and state government agencies. Moreover, he taught the state government’s chief anti-communist bureaucrat, Richard E. Combs, how to recruit informants and monitor and control subversives. The case of the suspicious death of one University of California, Los Angeles student – a student that the anti-communists claimed had been “scared to death” by the Reds – shows the extent of the collaboration between Combs and Van Deman. It further illustrates how they conspired to promote fear of communism, influence hiring and firing of University of California faculty, and punish those educators who did not support their project. Although it was rarely successful, Combs’ and Van Deman’s coordinated campaign reveals a story of public-private anticommunist collaboration in California that has been largely forgotten. Because Van Deman’s files are now finally open to researchers, Californians can gain a much more complete understanding of their state bureaucracy’s role in the Red Scare purges of California educators.

Varied Responses to Human-Induced Seismicity in the City of Azle, Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Status

Fracking has helped to usher in an era of energy abundance in the United States. This advanced drilling procedure has helped the nation to attain the status of the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world, but some of its negative externalities, such as human-induced seismicity, can no longer be ignored. The occurrence of earthquakes in communities located at proximity to disposal wells with no prior history of seismicity has shocked residents and have caused damages to properties. It has evoked individuals’ resentment against the practice of injection of fracking’s wastewater under pressure into underground disposal wells. Though the oil and gas companies have denied the existence of a link between such a practice and earthquakes and the local and state governments have delayed their responses to the unforeseen seismic events, the issue has gained in prominence among researchers, affected community residents, and the media. This case study has offered a glimpse into the varied responses of stakeholders to human-induced seismicity in a small city in the state of Texas. It is evident from this case study that although individuals’ complaints and protests from a small community may not be successful in bringing about statewide changes in regulatory policies on disposal of fracking’s wastewater, they can add to the public pressure on the state government to do something to address the problem in a state that supports fracking.

A Note on Mandela v Executors, Estate Nelson Mandela 2018 (4) SA 86 (SCA) and the Conundrum around the Customary Marriage between Nelson and Winnie Mandela

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sipho Stephen Nkosi
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
High Court ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The note is about the appeal lodged by the late Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to the SCA against the decision of the Eastern Cape High Court, Mthatha, dismissing her application for review in 2014. In that application, she sought to have reviewed the decision of the Minister of Land Affairs, to transfer the now extended and renovated Qunu property to Mr Mandela and to register it in his name. Because her application was out of time, she also applied for condonation of her delay in making the application. The court a quo dismissed both applications with costs, holding that there had been an undue delay on her part. Mrs Mandela then approached the Supreme Court of Appeal, for special leave to appeal the decision of the court a quo. Two questions fell for decision by the SCA: whether there was an unreasonable and undue delay on Mrs Mandela’s part in instituting review proceedings; and whether the order for costs was appropriate in the circumstances of the case. The SCA held that there was indeed an unreasonable delay (of seventeen years). Shongwe AP (with Swain, Mathopo JJA, Mokgothloa and Rodgers AJJA concurring) held that the fact that there had been an undue delay does not necessarily mean that an order for costs should, of necessity, particularly where, as in this case, the other litigant is the state. It is the writer’s view that two other ancillary points needed to be raised by counsel and pronounced on by the Court: (a) the lawfulness and regularity of the transfer of the Qunu property to Mr Mandela; and (b) Mrs Mandela’s status as a customary-law widow—in relation to Mr Mandela.

The Right to Housing: Challenges Associated with the ‘Waiting List System’ Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality V Various Occupiers, Eden Park Extension 5 2014 3 SA 23 (SCA)

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-121
Author(s):  
Shamier Ebrahim
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Waiting Lists ◽  
The State ◽  
Waiting List ◽  
Allocation Process ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The right to adequate housing is a constitutional imperative which is contained in section 26 of the Constitution. The state is tasked with the progressive realisation of this right. The allocation of housing has been plagued with challenges which impact negatively on the allocation process. This note analyses Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality v Various Occupiers, Eden Park Extension 51 which dealt with a situation where one of the main reasons provided by the Supreme Court of Appeal for refusing the eviction order was because the appellants subjected the unlawful occupiers to defective waiting lists and failed to engage with the community regarding the compilation of the lists and the criteria used to identify beneficiaries. This case brings to the fore the importance of a coherent (reasonable) waiting list in eviction proceedings. This note further analyses the impact of the waiting list system in eviction proceedings and makes recommendations regarding what would constitute a coherent (reasonable) waiting list for the purpose of section 26(2) of the Constitution.

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