A REMONSTRANCE TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE OCCUPYING CLAIMANT LAWS OF KENTUCKY. FEBRUARY 9, 1824. COMMITTED TO A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE ON THE STATES OF THE UNION. 18th Cong., 1st Sess. [69].
Washington: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1824. 49, [1 blank] pp. Disbound. Light to moderate foxing, very small hole in second leaf costing 3-4 letters. Else Very Good.
An angry State-Rights protest against the Supreme Court's invasion of Kentucky's sovereign authority in two decisions, the first by Justice Story and the second by Justice Washington. Green v. Biddle invalidated Kentucky's land-claimant laws. "Kentucky had been the scene of complicated and troublesome controversies over the desperate condition of her land titles, as a result of the innumerable surveys and patents of land which frequently overlapped each other." I Warren, Supreme Court in United States History 636-637.
Kentucky enacted ameliorative laws requiring owners who proved title to compensate occupiers for improvements that the latter had made; and, in default thereof, awarding the land to the occupier upon payment of its unimproved value. The Supreme Court decided the laws impaired the 1791 Virginia-Kentucky contract, entered into when Kentucky became a State, providing that all private rights and interests within Kentucky should remain "valid and secure" and be determined by existing Virginia law. The Court's diminution of Kentucky's "sovereign state power", with a detailed history of the controversy, is the subject of the Remonstrance.
AI 18945 [2]. Cohen 11141. Not in Coleman, Marke, or Harv. Law Cat. Item #24429
Price: $350.00