Judicial review is also routinely exercised by state courts over state and federal constitutional questions. Unlike the federal power of judicial review, which derives from Marbury, the state power of judicial review usually derives from an express provision in a state constitution. Marbury was an outgrowth of political struggles between the Federalist and Republican parties during the late eighte…
Defendant: Anne HutchinsonCrimes Charged: "Traducing the ministers and their ministry" and heresyChief Defense Lawyer: NoneChief Prosecutors: Civil trial: John Winthrop; religious trial: the Reverend John DavenportJudges: Civil trial: John Winthrop and the Magistrates of Massachusetts; religious trial: John Wilson and the ministers of the Church of BostonPlaces: Civil trial: Newtown …
Defendant: Dorothy TalbyeCrime Charged: MurderChief Defense Lawyer: No RecordChief Prosecutor: No RecordJudge: Governor John WinthropPlace: Boston, Massachusetts Bay ColonyDate of Trial: October 4, 1638Verdict: GuiltySentence: Death by hanging SIGNIFICANCE: The Talbye case demonstrated that early American society and its legal system did not fully understand or acknowledge the concept that someone…
Defendant: Judith CatchpoleCrimes Charged: Infanticide and witchcraftChief Defense Lawyer: No RecordChief Prosecutor: No RecordJudges: Michael Brook, William Fuller, Edward Lloyd, John Pott, and Richard PrestonPlace: Patuxent County, MarylandDate: September 22, 1656Verdict: Not Guilty SIGNIFICANCE: While trying to adhere to common law, colonial judicial practices often arose from immediate practic…
Defendant: Mary DyerCrime Charged: QuakerismChief Defense Lawyer: NoneChief Prosecutor: No RecordJudge: Governor John EndecottPlace: Boston, Massachusetts Bay ColonyDates: October 19, 1659; May 31, 1660Verdicts: GuiltySentences: First trial: death by hanging, commuted to banishment from the colony and hanging should she return; second trial: death by hanging SIGNIFICANCE: Quaker Mary Dyer's…
Defendant: Nicholas MoreCrimes Charged: High crimes and misdemeanorsChief Defense Lawyer: NoneChief Prosecutor: NonePlace: Philadelphia, Colony of PennsylvaniaDate of Indictment: May 15, 1685Verdict: None, although More was relieved of his judicial duties SIGNIFICANCE: Like other early America impeachments, Pennsylvania's methods for impeaching a sitting judge were drawn from English preced…
Defendants: Jacob Leisler, Jacob Milborne, eight other menCrimes Charged: The treasonable act of holding the king's fort by force against the royal governor, such action resulting in several deathsChief Defense Lawyer: NoneCommittee for Preparing the Prosecution: Nicholas Bayard, William Pinhorne, and Stephen Van CortlandtChief Prosecutors: James Emmott, George Farewell, and William Nichols…
Defendants: 200 accused, including: Bridget Bishop, Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, Giles Corey, Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Sarah Good, Elizabeth How, George Jacobs, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, John Procter, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Reed, Margaret Scott, Samuel Ward well, Sarah Wild, and John Willard.Crimes Charged: WitchcraftChief Examiners: Jonathan Corwin an…
Name of Defendant: John Peter ZengerCrime Charged: Seditious libelChief Defense Lawyers: Andrew Hamilton and John ChambersChief Prosecutor: Richard BradleyJudge: James De LanceyPlace: New York, New YorkDate of Trial: August 1735Verdict: Not guilty SIGNIFICANCE: By accepting truth as a legitimate defense in a libel case brought against a newspaper editor by a public official, the jury laid the foun…
Defendant: John WesleyPlaintiff's Claim: Defamation of CharacterDefense Lawyer: No RecordLawyer for Plaintiff: No RecordJudge: Thomas CaustonPlace: Savannah, GeorgiaDate of Trial: August 27-September 1, 1737Verdict: Indicted on 10 charges, 2 relating to the original charge of defamation and 8 relating to alleged ecclesiastical errorsSentence: Never formally sentenced SIGNIFICANCE: Because t…
Defendants: More than 170 people, including: Caesar and Prince; John and Sarah Hughson, Sarah Hughson (daughter); Margaret Sorubiero, alias Kerry; Quack; Cuffee; and John Ury.Crimes Charged: Entering, theft (Caesar, Prince); receiving stolen goods, conspiracy to commit arson (John and Sarah Hughson, Sorubiero); conspiracy to commit arson (Sarah Hughson, daughter); arson, conspiracy to murder inhab…
Petitioner for the Writ: James Cockle, a deputy customs official of SalemPetitioners against the Writs: Merchants of Salem and Boston, Massachusetts Bay ColonyAttorney for the Customs Officials: Jeremiah GridleyAttorneys for the Merchants: James Otis and Oxenbridge ThacherChief Judge: Thomas HutchinsonPlace: Boston, Massachusetts Bay ColonyDate: February 24, 1761Verdict: Deferred until a legal opi…
Plaintiff: Reverend James MauryDefendants: The collectors of the tax for Louisa County, Colony of VirginiaPlaintiff Claim: 300 Pounds in back payChief Defense Lawyer: Patrick Henry, taking over from John LewisChief Lawyer for Plaintiff: Peter LyonsJudge: John HenryPlace: Hanover County, Colony of VirginiaDate of Hearing: December 1, 1763Verdict: Damages awarded, one penny SIGNIFICANCE: The case pr…
McCulloch v. Maryland is a keynote case, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 4 L.Ed. 579 (1819), decided by the U.S. Supreme Court that established the principles that the federal government possesses broad powers to pass a number of types of laws, and that the states cannot interfere with any federal agency by imposing a direct tax upon it. Subsequently, a series of articles—which came to be called th…
Defendants: Captain Thomas Preston; Corporal William Wemms; Privates Hugh White, John Carroll, William Warren, and Matthew Killroy, William McCauley, James Hartegan, and Hugh MontgomeryCrimes Charged: Murder and accessories to murderChief Defense Lawyers: Both trials: John Adams, Josiah Quincy, Jr.; First trial: Robert Auchmuty; Second trial: Sampson Salter BlowersChief Prosecutors (Attorneys for …
Defendant: Sergeant Thomas HickeyCrimes Charged: Mutiny and seditionChief Defense Lawyer: NoneChief Prosecutor: NoneCourt-Martial Board: Colonel Samuel Parsons, presiding officerPlace: Richmond Hill, New YorkDate of Court-Martial: June 26, 1776Verdict: GuiltySentence: Death by hanging SIGNIFICANCE: The case reflected the uncertain, ill-defined state of American governmental affairs, particularly t…
Libelants: John Penhallow and Jacob Treadwell, representing 15 Portsmouth merchants who owned the privateer McClary, and George Wentworth, acting as agent for the ship's crewClaimants: Elisha Doane, owner of the Lusanna, Isaiah Doane (son), and James ShepherdLawyer for the Libelants: Sewall (no other name listed)Lawyers for the Claimants: John Adams, John Lowell, and Oliver WhippleDates of …
Defendant: Daniel BooneCrime Charged: TreasonChief Defense Lawyer: No recordChief Prosecutor: No recordJudges: A panel of Kentucky Militia officers, the names of whom were not recordedPlace: Fort Logan, KentuckyDate of Trial: 1778 (the exact date is unknown)Verdict: Not guilty SIGNIFICANCE: The trial showed the fluid nature not only of the early American frontier, but the difficulty of drawing lin…
Names of Defendants: Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner, William Brooks, James Buchanan, Ezra Ross.Crimes Charged: Murder, accomplice before the fact.Chief Defense Lawyer: Levi LincolnChief Prosecutor: Robert Treat PaineJudges: William Cushing, Jedediah Foster, Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant, David Sewall, James SullivanPlace: Worcester, MassachusettsDate of Trial: April 24, 1778Verdict: GuiltySentence: Execut…
Defendant: Charles LeeCrimes Charged: Disobedience of orders; misbehavior before the enemy; disrespect to the commander in chiefChief Defense Lawyer: No RecordPresiding Officer: Lord StirlingChief Prosecutor: No RecordCourt: No RecordPlace: Brunswick, New JerseyDate of Trial: July 4-August 12, 1778Verdict: GuiltySentence: Suspension from the army for one year SIGNIFICANCE: The court martial of Geo…
Defendants: Abraham Carlisle, John RobertsCrime Charged: TreasonChief Defense Lawyers: George Ross, James Wilson, William Lewis, Elias BoudinotChief Prosecutor: Jonathan Dickinson SergeantJudges: Thomas McKean, William Atlee, and John Evans, justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme CourtPlace: Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaDate of Trials: Carlisle: September 25, 1778; Roberts: September 30, 1778Verdict: G…
Defendant: Major John AndreCrime Charged: EspionageBoard of Enquiry: 14 generals of George Washington's staff headed by Major General Nathanael Greene.Place: Tappan, New YorkDate of Trial: September 29, 1780Verdict: GuiltySentence: Death by hanging SIGNIFICANCE: Major John Andre's trial for espionage sent shock waves through the American colonies by revealing the depth of a treason p…
Case 1: Jennison v. Caldwell, civil suit and appealCase 2: Walker v. Jennison, civil suit and appealCase 3: Commonwealth v. Jennison, criminal indictmentPlaintiffs: Nathaniel Jennison, (1); Quock Walker, (2)Defendants: Nathaniel Jennison, (2, 3); John and Seth Caldwell (2)Charge: Assault and battery (1, 3); deprivation of the benefit of his servant, Walker (2)Chief Prosecutor: Robert Treat Paine (…
In his opinion for the circuit court, Iredell dismissed the suit for want of jurisdiction. If any court had jurisdiction over the dispute, Iredell said, it was the U.S. Supreme Court because Article III of the federal Constitution gave only the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over all cases in which a state is named as a party."It may fairly be presumed," Iredell wrote for the ci…
Defendant: Paul RevereCrimes Charged: Disobedience of an order; leaving the Penobscot River without orders from his commanding officerChief Defense Lawyer: No recordPresiding Officer: No RecordChief Prosecutor: No RecordCourt: No RecordPlace: Boston, MassachusettsDate of Trial: February 1782Verdict: Acquitted on both counts SIGNIFICANCE: The reputation of Paul Revere as a patriotic hero of the Ame…
Defendants: Richard Randolph, Anne Cary (Nancy) RandolphCrimes Charged: MurderChief Defense Lawyers: John Marshall, Patrick HenryChief Prosecutors: No recordJudge: A Panel of 16 justices; there are no surviving records of their namesPlace: Cumberland County, VirginiaDate of Trial: April 1793Verdict: Acquittal SIGNIFICANCE: When two young members of one of colonial Virginia's oldest aristocr…
Defendants: 24 people, including: James Thompson Callender, Thomas Cooper, William Duane, Anthony Haswell, and Matthew Lyon.Crime Charged: Seditious libelChief Defense Lawyers: Lyon acted for himself, advised by Israel Smith; David Fay and Israel Smith (Haswell); Thomas Cooper and Alexander Dallas, (Duane); Cooper acted for, himself; and William B. Giles, George Hay and Philip Nicholas (Callender)…
Defendant: John FriesCrime Charged: TreasonChief Defense Lawyers: First trial: Alexander Dallas, James Ewing, and William Lewis; second trial: noneChief Prosecutors: First trial: William Rawle and Samuel Sitgreaves; second trial: Jared Ingersoll and RawleJudges: First trial: James Iredell and Richard Peters; second trial: Samuel Chase and PetersDates of Trials: First trial: April 30-May 9, 1799; s…
Defendant: Levi WeeksCrime Charged: MurderChief Defense Lawyers: Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Brockholst LivingstonChief Prosecutor: Cadwallader D. ColdenJudges: John Lansing, Richard Harrison, Richard VarickPlace: New York, New YorkDate of Trial: March 1800Verdict: Not guilty SIGNIFICANCE: The Levi Weeks trial revolved around one of the nation's first "murder mysteries," s…
Plaintiffs: William Marbury, William Harper, Robert R. Hooe, and Dennis RamsayDefendant: Secretary of State James MadisonPlaintiff Claim: That Madison had illegally refused to deliver judicial commissions to their rightful recipientsChief Defense Lawyer: U.S. Attorney General Levi LincolnChief Lawyer for Plaintiffs: Charles LeeJustices: Samuel Chase, William Cushing, John Marshall, Alfred Moore, W…
Defendant: Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel ChaseCrime Charged: "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" within the meaning of Article II, Section 4 of the ConstitutionChief Defense Lawyers: Robert Goodloe Harper, Joseph Hopkinson, and Luther MartinChief Prosecutor: Trial Managers John Randolph and Caesar RodneyJudges: The U.S. Senate, with Vice President Aaron Burr presidingPlace: Washi…
Defendants: Underl Barnes, John Dubois, John Harket, John Hepburn, George Keimer, Peter Pollen, George Pullis, George SnyderCrime Charged: Conspiracy to raise their wagesChief Defense Lawyers: Caesar A. Rodney, Walter FranklinChief Prosecutors: Jared Ingersol, Joseph HopkinsonJudges: John Innskep, Mayor of Philadelphia, ex officio; Moses Levy, recorder, presiding; Andrew Pettit, Abraham Shoemaker,…
Defendants: Dominic Daley, James HalliganCrime: MurderChief Defense Lawyers: Francis Blake, Thomas Gould, Edward Upham, Jabez UrhamChief Prosecutors: James Sullivan, John HookerJudges: Theodore Sedgwick, Samuel SewallPlace: Northampton, MassachusettsDate of Trial: April 24, 1806Verdict: GuiltySentence: Death by hanging SIGNIFICANCE: This otherwise obscure trial—rightly or wrongly—lat…
Defendants: William S. Smith, Samuel G. OgdenCrime Charged: Violating the Neutrality Act of 1794Chief Defense Lawyers: Thomas A. Emmet, Cadwallader D. Colden, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Washington Morton, and Richard Harison (Note: the transcript of the trial, as reproduced by Thomas Lloyd who was the stenographer at the trial, states that the last attorney's surname was Harison, with one …
Defendant: George Wythe SweeneyCrime Charged: MurderChief Defense Lawyers: Edmund Randolph and William WirtChief Prosecutor: Philip Norborne NicholasJudges: Joseph Prentes and John Tyler, Sr.Place: Richmond, VirginiaDates of Trial: September 2-8, 1806Verdict: Not guilty SIGNIFICANCE: Because the law forbade blacks from testifying in the criminal trial of a white man, George Wythe Sweeney was acqui…
Defendant: Former Vice President Aaron BurrCrime Charged: "Treason" within the meaning of Article Ill, Section 3 of the U.S. ConstitutionChief Defense Lawyers: Benjamin Botts, Luther Martin, Edmund Randolph, and John Wickham.Chief Prosecutors: George Hay, Gordon MacRae, and William WirtJudges: Cyrus Griffin and John MarshallPlace: Richmond, VirginiaDates of Trial: August 3-September …
Defendant: Commodore James BarronCrimes Charged: "Negligently performing the duty assigned him; neglecting, on the probability of an engagement, to clear ship for action; failing to encourage in his own person his inferior officers and men to fight courageously; not doing his utmost to take or destroy the Leopard, which vessel it was his duty to encounter."Defense Lawyer: Robert B. T…
Defendant: William HullCrimes Charged: Treason, cowardice, neglect of duty, unofficer-like conductChief Defense Lawyers: William Hull. (representing himself) assisted by Robert Tillotson, Cadwallader D. ColdenChief Prosecutors: Martin Van Buren, Philip S. ParkerJudges: Henry Dearborn, Joseph Bloomfield, Peter Little, William N. Irvine, James House, William Scott, William Stewart, J. R. Fenwick, Ro…
Defendant: Denmark Vesey et al.Crime Charged: Conspiracy to commit insurrection and murderChief Defense Lawyers: Vesey defended himself with assistance from George Warren CrossChief Prosecutors and Judges: Lionel Kennedy, Thomas Parker, William Drayton, Nathan Heyward, James Legare, James R. Pringle, Robert J. TurnbullPlace: Charleston, South CarolinaDate of Trial: June 23-28, 1822Verdict: GuiltyS…
Defendant: John MannCrime Charged: Assault and batteryChief Defense Lawyer: No recordChief Prosecutor: No recordJudge: Thomas RuffinPlace: North CarolinaDate of Decision: December 1829Verdict: Judgment reversed, and judgment entered for the defendant SIGNIFICANCE: A Southern judge with little sympathy for slavery rendered a powerful and logical pro-slavery opinion, further entrenching Southern sla…
Defendants: John Francis Knapp and Joseph Jenkins KnappCrimes Charged: Accessories to murderChief Defense Lawyers: F.Dexter and W.H. GardinerChief Prosecutor: Daniel WebsterJudges: Marcus Morton, Samuel Putnam, and Samuel S. WildePlace: Salem, MassachusettsDates of Trials: July Term, 1830 for John Francis Knapp; November Term, 1830 for Joseph Jenkins KnappVerdicts: Guilty, both trialsSentences: De…
Plaintiffs: Cherokee Indian NationDefendant: State of GeorgiaPlaintiffs Claim: That under the Supreme Court's power to resolve disputes between states and foreign nations, the Court could forbid Georgia from unlawfully attempting to move the Cherokees from their landsChief Defense Lawyer: NoneChief Lawyer for Plaintiffs: William WirtJustices: Henry Baldwin, Gabriel Duvalt, William Johnson, …
