Prigg v. Pennsylvania
United States Supreme Court
41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 (1842)
- Written by Josh Lee, JD
Facts
In 1837, Edward Prigg (defendant) captured Margaret Morgan and her children in Pennsylvania. Prigg claimed that Morgan was a fugitive slave. Pennsylvania was a non-slave-holding state and was a common refuge for fugitive slaves. The federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 authorized the owner of a fugitive slave to seize the slave and bring the slave before a federal judge or state magistrate to obtain a certificate after proving that the slave was actually a fugitive slave. Prigg did not prove that Morgan was a slave before any federal judge or state magistrate in Pennsylvania. Instead, Prigg forcibly removed Morgan and her children to Maryland, where a county judge adjudged them to be slaves. Prigg was charged and convicted under a Pennsylvania law designed to prevent self-help in the return of fugitive slaves. Prigg challenged this law as unconstitutional.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Story, J.)
Concurrence (Taney, C.J.)
Dissent (McLean, J.)
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