Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit by President Eisenhower 1973 Wrote majority opinion for Roe v.. Commentaries was unprecedented in scope and purpose, and profoundly influenced the
Trang 1CROSS REFERENCES Communism “House Un-American Activities Committee”
(In Focus); Entertainment Law; Freedom of Association and Assembly; Freedom of Speech.
BLACKMAIL The crime involving a threat for purposes of compelling a person to do an act against his or her will, or for purposes of taking the person’s money
or property
The term blackmail originally denoted a payment made by English persons residing along the border of Scotland to influential Scottish chieftains in exchange for protection from thieves and marauders
In blackmail the threat might consist of physical injury to the threatened person or to someone loved by that person, or injury to a person’s reputation In some cases the victim is told that an illegal act he or she had previously committed will be exposed if the victim fails to comply with the demand
Although blackmail is generally synony-mous with extortion, some states distinguish the offenses by requiring that the former be in writing Blackmail is punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both
CROSS REFERENCE Threats.
Harry Andrew Blackmun, associate justice of the U.S Supreme Court from 1970 to 1994, stepped into a political maelstrom when he authored the much-lauded, much-reviled 1973 opinionROE V.WADE, 410 U.S 113, 93 S Ct 705,
35 L Ed 2d 147 Roe guaranteed access to safe, legal abortions for women in the first trimester
of pregnancy Depending on one’s viewpoint, Blackmun was considered either a public hero
or a Supreme Court villain, for authoring the opinion upholding a woman’s right to privacy
in the matter of abortion
An unassuming and highly intelligent man, Blackmun seemed an unlikely symbol for an explosive social and political issue Born November 12, 1908, in Nashville, Illinois, he spent his childhood in St Paul, Minnesota, where his father ran a hardware and grocery store Blackmun was an outstanding student and received a scholarship to Harvard Univer-sity, where he graduated summa cum laude with
a mathematics degree in 1929 He went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School
in 1932
Blackmun’s first job out of law school was a federal clerkship for Judge John B Sanborn, of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit After his clerkship, Blackmun spent 16 years practicing law in Minneapolis as a tax and trust specialist at a large, prestigious firm In 1941 Blackmun and Dorothy E Clark married; they later raised three children
Blackmun also taught at the St Paul College
of Law (later renamed the WILLIAM MITCHELL
College of Law) and at the University of Minnesota Law School In 1950 he became head counsel at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, a position he particularly enjoyed because of a lifelong interest in medicine
In 1959 President DWIGHT D EISENHOWER
appointed Blackmun to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to replace his former boss, Judge Sanborn While on the appeals court, Blackmun was a diligent and fair-minded judge, with a conservative outlook A significant portion
of his decisions involved tax issues
Blackmun sat on the Eighth Circuit until
1970 when PresidentRICHARD M.NIXONappointed him to the U.S Supreme Court Blackmun was Nixon’s third choice for the Supreme Court seat formerly held by Associate Justice ABE FORTAS Earlier, Nixon had nominated Clement F Haynsworth Jr and G Harrold Carswell, two candidates with unconvincing qualifications After the Senate refused to confirm either Haynsworth or Carswell, Nixon turned to Black-mun as a candidate with sterling legal credentials and a fine personal reputation Unlike the rancorous Senate proceedings for the two failed candidates, Blackmun’s confirmation hearing was quick and congenial He was approved unanimously by the Senate on May 12, 1970 When Blackmun joined the Supreme Court,
he teamed up with his boyhood friendWARREN E
BURGER, who was chief justice Years before, Blackmun had been best man at Burger’s wed-ding The two St Paul natives were immediately dubbed the Minnesota Twins
Blackmun entered the Court with the reputation of being a hardworking, irreproach-able, and conservative jurist During his quarter century on the Supreme Court, his reputation changed in one significant way: Although he continued to be seen as hardworking and
ABORTION RAISES
MORAL AND
SPIRITUAL QUESTIONS
OVER WHICH
HONORABLE PERSONS
CAN DISAGREE
SINCERELY AND
PROFOUNDLY BUT
THOSE
DISAGREEMENTS
DO NOT NOW RELIEVE
US OF OUR DUTY TO
APPLY THE
CONSTITUTION
FAITHFULLY
—H ARRY B LACKMUN
58 BLACKMAIL
Trang 2irreproachable, he was perceived less and less as
a conservative
Court observers noted that Blackmun’s
voting record indicated a swing to the political
left His support for civil liberties in the areas of
commercial speech and the rights of aliens, as
well as his acceptance of a broadened judicial
role, resulted in an alliance with liberal justices
THURGOOD MARSHALL and William J Brennan Jr
Blackmun insisted that he was merely taking
a central ground on the issues before the Court
Nevertheless, in 1991 he acknowledged the
change in public perception, saying, “having
been appointed by a Republican president and
being accused now of being a flaming liberal,
the Republicans think I’m a traitor and the
Democrats don’t trust me And so I twist in the
wind, I hope, beholden to no one, and that’s
just exactly where I want to be.”
Roe is Blackmun’s most famous
contribu-tion as a Supreme Court justice Writing for the
seven-member majority, Blackmun ruled that
women could obtain abortions without
inter-ference from the state as a matter of right under
the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTto the U.S
Consti-tution The case came about as a challenge to a
Texas law (Tex Rev Civ Stats arts.1191-1194,
1196) that made abortion illegal unless
per-formed to save the life of the mother The law
was challenged by a pregnant woman as a
violation of her right to privacy
Blackmun held that the privacy rights of the
pregnant woman outweighed the state’s interest
His knowledge of medical issues is evident in
the case Blackmun based hisRULINGon a
three-part division of pregnancy: the first trimester,
when a woman can obtain an abortion and the
state has no interest; the second trimester, when
the state has an interest in the licensing of the performing physician; and the last trimester, when the fetus is considered viable, or capable
of living outside the mother’s womb, and the state’s interest reaches a level where the state may restrict access to abortion Although Blackmun earned praise for this ruling, he also became the target of protests and death threats
In another indication of his more liberal leanings, Blackmun publicly denouncedCAPITAL PUNISHMENT in 1994 Two months before his retirement from the Court, Blackmun, who had been a strong and consistent supporter of the death penalty, announced that he had come to believe that the system for capital punishment was so riddled with bias and error as to be unworkable.“From this day forward”, he stated,
“I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.” After his retirement in April 1994, Blackmun continued to come daily to the court
Harry Andrew Blackmun 1908–1999
1939–45 World War II
1950–53 Korean War
1961–73 Vietnam War 1914–18
World War I
1929 Graduated from Harvard University
1932 Received J.D from Harvard Law School
1934–50 Worked in private practice in Minneapolis
1950 Became in-house counsel to the Mayo Foundation and Clinic
1959 Appointed
to U.S Court
of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
by President Eisenhower
1973 Wrote majority opinion
for Roe v Wade
1994 Retired from Supreme Court
1999 Died, Washington, D.C.
1908 Born,
Nashville, Tenn.
1970 Nominated to U.S Supreme Court by President Nixon
Harry Blackmun.
GETTY IMAGES
Trang 3and go to the cafeteria for breakfast with his clerks Blackmun died in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1999, at the age of 90
FURTHER READINGS Abraham, Henry Julian 1999 Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S Supreme Court Appoint-ments from Washington to Clinton New York: Rowman &
Littlefield.
Barnes, Catherine A 1978 Men of the Supreme Court:
Profiles of the Justices New York: Facts on File.
Congressional Quarterly 1989 Guide to the U.S Supreme Court 2d ed Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Cushman, Claire, ed 1993 The Supreme Court Justices:
Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1993 Washington, D.C.:
Congressional Quarterly.
Levy, Leonard 1974 Against the Law: The Nixon Court and Criminal Justice New York: Harper & Row.
Schwartz, Bernard 1993 A History of the Supreme Court.
New York: Oxford Univ Press.
CROSS REFERENCES Abortion; Privacy.
The groundwork for U.S jurisprudence lies in a four-volume eighteenth-century publication by British legal commentator Sir William Black-stone Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England provided a systematic analysis of English
COMMON LAW Published between 1765 and 1769, the treatise was an exhaustive compilation of Blackstone’s Oxford University lectures on law
Commentaries was unprecedented in scope and purpose, and profoundly influenced the devel-opment of common law andLEGAL EDUCATIONin England and the United States
Born July 10, 1723, Blackstone was the son of Mary Blackstone and Charles Blackstone, of London Blackstone’s father, a silk merchant, died before Blackstone was born; his mother died while
he was a young boy Raised by an older brother and tutored by an uncle, Blackstone attended Charterhouse and Pembroke College, at Oxford University, where his education included a thorough exposure to mathematics and logic Blackstone entered All Souls College, Oxford, in
1743, and became a fellow in 1744
In preparation for a law practice, Blackstone received aCIVIL LAWdegree in 1745, and became
a barrister in 1746 In 1750 he became a doctor
of civil law One year later he was selected as an assessor (judge) of Chancellor’s Court
In 1755, after three years of a lusterless law practice, Blackstone decided to devote all of his time to teaching law at Oxford His first book, published in 1757, was titled An Analysis of the Laws of England In 1758 Blackstone was named Oxford’s Vinerian Professor of ENGLISH LAW, receiving the first chair of common law ever established at the university Blackstone’s lectures were well received, providing students with a comprehensive introduction to the laws
of England
The success of his lectures enhanced Black-stone’s career In 1761 he became a bencher (supervisor and lecturer) at Oxford’s Middle Temple The same year, he was elected to Parliament, where he served for seven years— although, according to most historians, he was not an especially ambitious or effective politi-cian Also in 1761, Blackstone married Sarah Clitherow, with whom he had nine children
In 1765 Blackstone published the first of his four volumes of Commentaries The treatise discussed the cases, rules, and legal principles outlined in his popular Oxford lectures Each volume concentrated on a particular area of law—personal rights, property rights, torts, or
Sir William Blackstone 1723–1780
❖
❖
1723 Born, London, England
◆
◆
◆
1743 Entered All Souls College, Oxford
1746 Became a barrister 1750
Became a doctor of civil law
◆ ◆◆
1755 Began teaching full-time at Oxford
1757 An Analysis of the
Laws of England published
1765 First
of four volumes of
Commentaries
published
1770 Became judge of the Court of Common Pleas; knighted by George III.
◆
1775 American Revolution began
1780 Died, London, England
1761 Became a supervisor and lecturer at Oxford's Middle Temple
1758 Named Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford
1725
IT IS BETTER THAT
TEN GUILTY PERSONS
ESCAPE THAN ONE
INNOCENT SUFFER
—S IR W ILLIAM
B LACKSTONE
60 BLACKSTONE, SIR WILLIAM
Trang 4CRIMINAL LAW As Blackstone analyzed the laws,
he also revealed their relationship to a higher
power Throughout his Commentaries,
Black-stone wove the concept of “natural law,” or
God’s laws imposed on humankind
Some critics maintain that Blackstone’s view
of British law was misleading because a logical,
cohesive legal system simply did not exist at the
time he was writing Also, they argue that
although Blackstone’s writing style was graceful,
he sometimes treated legal terms loosely Yet
even his harshest critics concede that
Black-stone’s effort to synthesize English law was
indeed impressive, as was the effect of his
treatise in his country and beyond
Blackstone’s Commentaries was particularly
influential in the United States as the new
nation sought to establish its own laws and legal
system Although Blackstone is no longer cited
by practicing attorneys—his importance in the
United States decreased dramatically during
the twentieth century—he remains a revered
figure in U.S law More than 30 editions of
Commentaries have been printed in the United
States and England
In 1770 Blackstone became judge of the
Court of COMMON PLEAS and was knighted He
died on February 14, 1780, at age fifty-seven
FURTHER READINGS Carrese, Paul O 2003 The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism Chicago:
Univ of Chicago Press.
Priest, Wilfrid 2008 William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century New York: Oxford Univ Press.
Stacey, Robert D 2003 Sir William Blackstone and the Common Law: Blackstone’s Legacy to America Ozark, AL: ACW Press.
CROSS REFERENCES Blackstone ’s Commentaries.
BLACKSTONE’S COMMENTARIES
A series of lectures delivered by the English jurist Sir William Blackstone at Oxford in 1753 and published as Commentaries on the Laws of England in four volumes between 1765 and 1769, which systematized and clarified the amorphous body of English law
The Commentaries are the first attempt to state the entire corpus of theCOMMON LAW They were acclaimed internationally and their pre-cepts were applied to the study and PRACTICE
OF LAWin England and the United States They exerted a tremendous influence on the Ameri-can bar, both because of their intrinsic value and because they were the only treatises readily available during that period of U.S history
The Commentaries were the primary reference tools for lawyers and judges until the nine-teenth century because the appellate courts in America did not regularly submit their opinions for publication in bound volumes Although there were court reporters, their records of decisions were incomplete and sporadic; and few attorneys could afford a comprehensive library
Because the common law of England was incorporated into the legal systems of the colonies, Blackstone’s summaries rendered the legal system accessible to the entire educated class of the colonies Dissatisfaction with the common-law restrictions onFREEDOM OF SPEECH
and the press was an important aspect of the burgeoning resentment of English rule; and the knowledge and intellectual stimulation
provid-ed by Blackstone thereby playprovid-ed a role in causing the American Revolution Blackstone’s books, which were periodically updated by American editors, constituted a major source
of law for approximately fifty years after the American Revolution
The Commentaries are viewed as the most comprehensive summary of the entire body of
Sir William Blackstone.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
BLACKSTONE’S COMMENTARIES 61
Trang 5ENGLISH LAW ever compiled by a single author.
Their clarity, sophistication, and formality have caused them to be highly regarded While studying to be a lawyer, ABRAHAM LINCOLN
reportedly read Blackstone by candlelight
Blackstone did have detractors, however, most notably THOMAS JEFFERSON and JEREMY BENTHAM, the English Utilitarian philosopher
Jefferson believed that Blackstone and his followers were “Tories” and that he was a negative influence on America in the sense that more attention needed to be devoted to
“whiggism” or “republicanism.” Bentham criti-cized Blackstone for his perception that English law needed no improvement and for his imprecise analysis of the historical and social factors underlying systems of justice
Although the Commentaries might seem antiquated by current standards, Blackstone’s work represented a tremendous advance in the study of law and played a significant role
in the development of the American legal system
vBLAIR, JOHN, JR
John Blair Jr., was among the original members
of the U.S Supreme Court Nominated by President GEORGE WASHINGTON, Blair began his term as an associate justice shortly after the Court’s establishment on February 2, 1790 Considered a fair-minded, incorruptible jurist,
he remained on the bench for six years Blair was born in 1732 into a wealthy, well-established Virginia family His parents were John Blair Sr., a public official with important political connections, and Mary Munro (or Monro) Blair, whose father was a rector in Virginia’s St John’s Parish In 1754, Blair graduated from the College of William and Mary (founded by his great-uncle), and he then studied law at Oxford’s Middle Temple, in London
In 1756 Blair returned to Virginia with his Scottish wife, Jean Balfour, and began a successful law practice in Williamsburg He served in the House of Burgesses as a represen-tative of William and Mary from 1766 to 1770 (The House of Burgesses was a colonial assembly of elected officials and the governor.)
He served as clerk of the governor’s council from 1770 to 1775 Blair attended the Virginia Constitutional Convention and the Virginia
PRIVY COUNCILin 1776 (The Privy Council was
an advisory group to the English monarchy.)
John Blair Jr.
CORBIS.
John Blair Jr 1732–1800
❖
❖
1732 Born,
Williamsburg, Va.
1754 Graduated from the College
of William and Mary
1766–70 Served in the Virginia House of Burgesses
1770–75 Served as clerk of the (Va.) governor's council
1776 Attended the Virginia Constitutional convention
1775–83 American Revolution
1778 Became a judge on the Virginia General Court
1780 Appointed to Virginia Court of Appeals
1787 Served
as delegate
to the Constitutional Convention
1789 Nominated by George Washington as one of first six U.S Supreme Court justices
1782 Commonwealth v Caton established
legal concept of judicial review
1796 Retired from Supreme Court
1800 Died, Wiliamsburg, Va.
1800 1775
1750 1725
BEING CALLED UPON
FOR AN ACCOUNT OF
WHATMONEYIMAY
HAVE INHAND
BELONGING TO HIS
MAJESTY, IHAVE
ONLY TO SAY THATI
HAVE NOT ANY
—J OHN B LAIR J R
62 BLAIR, JOHN, JR.
Trang 6Before his ascension to the U.S Supreme
Court, Blair performed judicial duties for
various state courts He became a judge on the
newly established Virginia General Court in
1778 In 1780 he became chancellor of the high
court of chancery and was appointed to
Virginia’s first court of appeals
In the 1782 chancery case Commonwealth v
Caton, 8 Va (4 Call) 5, Blair concluded that
courts were entitled to review state legislation
and to invalidate any laws found
unconstitu-tional The legal concept of judicial review—
whereby the courts examineLEGISLATIVE ACTSand
determine their constitutionality—was later
embraced fully by the U.S Supreme Court, in
the landmark case MARBURY V MADISON, 5 U.S
137, 2 L Ed 60 (1803)
In 1787 Blair served as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
Soon afterward he was appointed to the Virginia
Court of Appeals Blair received his greatest
judicial honor when President Washington
nominated him, along with five other men, to
the first High Court on September 24, 1789 (At
the time, only six justices sat on the Supreme
Court By 1869 the number had risen to nine.)
Blair was confirmed by the U.S Senate on
September 26, 1789
As an associate justice, Blair took part in
CHISHOLM V GEORGIA, 2 U.S 419, 1 L Ed 440
(1793), the Supreme Court’s first major
opin-ion The issue before the Court was state
sovereignty and whether a citizen of one state
could sue another state in federal court over a
disputed claim The Supreme Court ruled that
under Article III, Section 2, of the U.S
Constitution, a citizen of one state could indeed
sue another state in federal court
Many states decried the outcome of Chisholm,
fearing lawsuits that would lead to economic
disaster Four years after the decision was handed
down, Congress ratified theELEVENTH AMENDMENT
to the U.S Constitution, which prohibited
citizens of one state from suing another state
without the consent of theDEFENDANT state The
amendment in effect overturned Chisholm
Until the 1860s, U.S Supreme Court
justices sat on a CIRCUIT COURT as well as the
High Court In Hayburn’s Case, 2 U.S 408, 1
L Ed 436 (1792), Blair broke new ground as a
federal appeals judge byRULING that a
congres-sional act ordering circuit judges to serve as
pension commissioners was unconstitutional
Blair noted that the supervision of a federal pension plan was not a judicial duty He ruled that the designation of circuit judges as admin-istrators violated the separation-of-powers doctrine
Blair retired from the High Court on January 27, 1796, citing the stress of serving
on both the Supreme Court and the circuit court, which in Blair’s case stretched from New Jersey to Virginia He died in his native Williamsburg at age 68, in 1800
FURTHER READINGS Congressional Quarterly 2004 Guide to the U.S Supreme Court 4th ed Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Cushman, Claire, ed 1996 The Supreme Court Justices:
Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 2d ed Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Frank, John P., Leon Friedman, and Fred Israel, ed 1995.
The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions New York: Chelsea House.
BLANK Lacking something essential to fulfillment or completeness; unrestricted or open A space left empty for the insertion of one or more words or marks in a written document that will effectuate its meaning or make it legally operative A printed legal form in which the standard or necessary words are printed in their proper order with spaces left open, to be filled with names, dates, figures, and additional clauses
A blank check is one that is unrestricted as
to the amount to be paid
BLANK ENDORSEMENT The writing of the name of a person who holds a negotiable instrument on the back of the docu-ment without specifically designating to whom the paper is to be paid, which transfers the rights that the signer had in the instrument to the person who presents it for payment
When a person endorses a paycheck, for example, with just a signature, such as “John Jones,” then the bank is authorized to pay the check to anyone who presents it for payment, because there is no specification or restriction as
to whom the check can be paid Such a signature is a blank endorsement ANEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT that has a blank endorsement is called bearer paper
BLANK ENDORSEMENT 63
Trang 7BLASPHEMY The malicious or wanton reproach of God, either written or oral In English law, the offense of speaking disparaging words about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, or the Book of Common Prayer with the intent to undermine religious beliefs and promote contempt and hatred for the church as well as general immorality In U.S law, any maliciously intended written or oral accusation made against God or religion with the purpose of dishonoring the divine majesty and alienating mankind from the love and reverence of God
Blasphemy is a common-law offense and also an offense by statute in certain jurisdictions
It must be uttered in the presence of another person or persons or published in order to
be an offense Mere use of profanity is not considered blasphemy Blasphemy statutes are rarely, if ever, enforced in the early twenty-first century
Samuel Blatchford was an astute and conscien-tious jurist who served on the U.S Supreme Court from 1882 to 1893 He was known primarily for his maritime and patent expertise and for his remarkable productivity During his 11-year tenure on the High Court he wrote
430 opinions and two dissents His most noteworthy opinions, Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul Railway Co v Minnesota, 134 U.S 418, 10
S Ct 462, 33 L Ed 970 (1890), and Budd v People of New York, 143 U.S 517, 12 S Ct
468, 36 L Ed 247 (1892), were roundly criticized for their apparently contradictory conclusions about due process under theFOURTEENTH AMEND-MENTof the U.S Constitution
Blatchford was born in New York City on March 9, 1820, the son of Richard Blatchford, a lawyer, and Julia Ann Mumford He attended Columbia College (renamed Columbia Univer-sity), and graduated with honors at age seven-teen in 1837 Blatchford served as a trustee of Columbia from 1867 to 1893
After graduation Blatchford became the private secretary of Governor William H Seward of New York, a family friend Blatchford studied law, was admitted to the New York bar
in 1842, and practiced for three years with his father in Manhattan Blatchford then joined Seward’s law firm in Auburn, New York He married Caroline Appleton in 1844
Samuel Blatchford.
COLLECTION OF THE
SUPREME COURT OF
THE UNITED STATES
Samuel Blatchford 1820–1893
❖
1820 Born, New York, N.Y.
❖
1837 Graduated from Columbia College
1842 Admitted
to New York bar
1852
Blatchford's Circuit Court Reports first
published
1861–65 U.S.
Civil War
1867 Appointed district judge
of the Southern District of New York
1876 Appointed circuit judge of Second U.S.
Circuit
1882 Appointed to U.S Supreme Court by President Arthur
1890 Wrote Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railway Co v Minnesota opinion
1893 Died, Newport, R.I.
1892 Wrote Budd v.
New York opinion
1825
THE IMPORTANCE OF
A LEARNED, [AND]
HIGH-TONED BAR,TO
THE PROPER
DISCHARGE OF THE
FUNCTIONS OF THE
BENCH,CANNOT BE
TOO HIGHLY
ESTIMATED THE
STREAM CAN NEVER
RISE HIGHER THAN
THE FOUNTAIN
—S AMUEL
B LATCHFORD
64 BLASPHEMY
Trang 8In 1854 Blatchford started his own law firm
and he eventually became a respected authority
on international, maritime, and patent law
Because of his extensive knowledge of patent
law he was asked by lawmakers to help write key
federal statutes governing patent infringement
Blatchford made a significant contribution
to the legal profession by organizing a reporting
system for federalCASE LAW During much of the
nineteenth century federal opinions were not
compiled or readily accessible to practicing
lawyers In 1852 Blatchford collected and
published federal court admiralty decisions in
Blatchford’s CIRCUIT COURT Reports, a series that
grew to 24 volumes He also produced
Blatch-ford’s and Howland’s Reports, a volume of
admiralty cases from the district court for the
Southern District of New York, and Blatchford’s
Prize Cases, a collection of cases from circuit
and district courts His case reporting is credited
with improving legal research
Although Blatchford turned down an
op-portunity to sit on the New York Supreme
Court in 1855, he eventually accepted another
court appointment and rose through the ranks
of the judiciary In 1867 he was appointed by
President ANDREW JOHNSON as district judge of
the Southern District of New York Nine years
later President RUTHERFORD B.HAYES named him
circuit judge for the second judicial circuit
Blatchford reached the pinnacle of his career
in 1882, when President CHESTER A ARTHUR
nominated him to the U.S Supreme Court
Blatchford was Arthur’s third choice for the seat
vacated byWARD HUNT Although the U.S Senate
had already confirmed New York politicianROSCOE
CONKLING, Arthur’s first choice, Conkling declined
to serve Arthur’s second choice, Senator George
F Edmunds, of Vermont, also turned down the
honor Known as a hardworking and capable
lawyer and judge, Blatchford accepted the
nomi-nation and was easily confirmed
In 1890 Blatchford wrote Chicago,
Milwau-kee, an opinion that shielded business from
public regulation The Court ruled that the
reasonableness of railroad rates could not be
decided by an independent commission
estab-lished by the Minnesota Legislature The state
law establishing the commission was ruled
unconstitutional because it did not allow for
court review and therefore violated the railway’s
right to due process Two years later, in Budd,
Blatchford changed course and the Court held
that the state legislature could determine business rates affecting thePUBLIC INTEREST The inconsistency between the two cases produced widespread criticism
Blatchford wrote one significant civil liber-ties opinion, Counselman v Hitchcock, 142 U.S
547, 12 S Ct 195, 35 L Ed 1110 (1892), a case that strengthened the constitutional right against SELF-INCRIMINATION Blatchford held that under the FIFTH AMENDMENT of the U.S
Constitution, a witness could not be ordered
to testify unless the state promised never to use the information against her or him Blatchford died in 1893 in Newport, Rhode Island, at age 73
FURTHER READINGS Congressional Quarterly 2004 Guide to the U.S Supreme Court 4th ed Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Frank, John P., Leon Friedman, and Fred Israel, ed 1995.
The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions New York: Chelsea House.
Friedman, Leon, and Fred L Israel, eds 1995 The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions, Volumes I–V New York: Chelsea House.
BLOCK
A segment of a town or city surrounded by streets and avenues on at least three sides and usually occupied by buildings, though it may be composed solely of vacant lots The section of a city enclosed
by streets that is described by a map which indicates how a portion of land will be subdivided
BLOCKADE See NEUTRALITY
BLOCKBUSTING The practice of illegally frightening homeowners
by telling them that people who are members of a particular race, religion, or national origin are moving into their neighborhood and that they should expect a decline in the value of their property The purpose of this scheme is to get the homeowners to sell out at a deflated price
An unscrupulous REAL ESTATE agent will subsequently sell the vacated homes to minority group members at an inflated price, thereby obtaining a large profit Fair access to housing
is defeated by blockbusting
BLOCKBUSTING 65
Trang 9BLOOD FEUD Avenging the wrongful death of a person’s kin by killing the murderer or by receiving compensation from the murderer’s possessions
During the Middle Ages all European nations had similar customs concerning the
MURDERof their inhabitants The closest next of kin to a person who had wrongfully died at the hands of another had the primary duty to retaliate against the killer This obligation was subject to certain laws and customs concerning the type of permissible vengeance, the amount
of compensation that could be exacted, the location at which the compensation was to be made, and the circumstances in which compen-sation was not required For example, a blood feud was not sanctioned if the person killed was
a convicted thief or if the person who did the killing did so to defend his lord or a close female family member The idea of the imprisonment
of a person who had committed aHOMICIDEwas unknown during this period of history
There is dispute over whether the blood feud was legal under Teutonic or Anglo-Saxon law
During the ninth-century reign of Alfred, a feud could lawfully commence only after an attempt was made to exact the price of a life The price, called weregild, also applied when other atroc-ious personal offenses were committed and was paid partly to the monarch for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord for the loss of a vassal, and partly
to the next of kin of the injured person In Anglo-Saxon law, the amount of compensation, called angylde, was fixed at law and varied with the status
of the person killed
The Catholic Church exerted much influ-ence to have a death avenged through the payment of compensation, not further violence, but the blood feud continued throughout England until after the Norman Conquest (1066)
BLOTTER
A written record of arrests and other occurrences maintained by the police The report kept by the police when a suspect is booked, which involves the written recording of facts about the person’s arrest and the charges against him or her
“Devil Anse” Hatfield
(seated, center),
pictured with
members of his
family The
Hatfield-McCoy feud, which
lasted almost 30
years, is perhaps the
most infamous
example of a blood
feud.
BETTMANN/CORBIS.
66 BLOOD FEUD
Trang 10BLUE BOOK
A publication that establishes the correct form of
case citations or of references to a legal authority
showing where information can be found A
volume that explains the organization of a state
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officials The proper title is “The Bluebook: A
Uniform System of Citation.” In a generic sense,
this term also refers to a report issued by the Joint
Committee on Taxation regarding recent tax
legislation
The Blue Book is published by the Harvard
LAW REVIEWAssociation in conjunction with law
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University, and the University of Pennsylvania
It has been the preeminent authority on proper
citation form for more than 70 years
CROSS REFERENCE
Citation.
BLUE LAWS
A state or local law that prohibits commercial
activities on Sunday
Blue laws have been part of U.S LEGAL
HISTORY since the colonial period These laws,
which today are usually referred to as Sunday
closing laws, prohibit certain types of
commer-cial activity on Sundays Originally these laws
were directed at personal activities regarded
as moral offenses, such as gambling or the
consumption of alcohol In the nineteenth
century, however, state and local governments
passed laws that forbade businesses from
operating on Sunday Although these laws were
clearly based on Christian beliefs, the U.S
Supreme Court has ruled that they do not
violate the First Amendment’s Establishment
Clause Many blue laws have been repealed
since the 1960s, but some laws that ban the sale
of alcohol on Sunday remain in force
In 1781 the Reverend Samuel Peters
pub-lished A General History of Connecticut, in which
he used the term blue laws to refer to a set of
laws that the Puritans had enacted in the 1600s
to control morality He claimed that the laws
were printed on blue paper, hence the
termi-nology Historians, however, have concluded
that this claim was false, as were many of the
laws he purported to have discovered Some
have speculated that the use of the word blue
came from a connotation that suggested a
rigidly moral position, akin to the term bluenose that refers to a prudish, moralistic person
The decline of Puritanism and religious-based governments in the 1700s signaled a decline in laws that banned personal activities
on Sunday Many states and towns, however, passed laws to forbid merchants and laborers from working on Sunday These laws were not based on concerns that workers deserved a day
of rest Instead, they were meant to respect the Christian Sabbath In the nineteenth century the enactment of these laws proceeded west with the expansion of the United States By the late 1850s the courts had been called upon to analyze the effect of blue laws on liability issues
For example, in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Co v Philadelphia and Havre
de Grace Steam Towboat Co., 64 U.S (23 How.)
209 (1859), the U.S Supreme Court held that a railroad that left debris in the water is not excused for damage to a commercial boat that sailed on Sunday The Court reasoned that boats are works of necessity that are not bound
by Sunday closing laws
The rise of the TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT after the CIVIL WAR led to the passage of many blue laws that forbade the sale of liquor on Sunday, whether in a bar or in a retail store These prohibitions sometimes banned the sale of tobacco products and by the late nineteenth century, certain public entertainments were not allowed on Sunday After the failure of Prohibition and the legalization of alcoholic beverages in 1933, many states and localities used their blue laws to prevent the operation of liquor stores and bars on Sunday
Between 1859 and 1900 the Supreme Court heard eight cases involving blue laws In Soon Hing v Crowley, 113 U.S 703, 5 S Ct 730 28 L.Ed 1145 (1885), the Court upheld a law that barred physical labor on Sunday The Court concluded that the law was intended to prevent undue physical labor rather than promote
RELIGION This was the first decision that examined whether a Sunday closing law was based on religious grounds Other decisions during this period found the court validating jury verdicts made on Sunday and determining that the operation of a barber shop on Sunday was not a“work of necessity” that exempted the shop from a blue law
During the early twentieth century many blue laws were amended to permit exemptions
BLUE LAWS 67