2. Local law such as a zoning ordinance enacted by the governing body of a city or municipality which applies only within its boundaries. To have full force and effect of law, an ordinance must not be in conflict with any higher law such as state or national law or constitutional provisions.
In 1844 or 1845, Harriet married John Tubman, a free black. The marriage was apparently not a good match, from the beginning. Shortly after her marriage, she hired a lawyer to investigate her own legal history, and discovered that her mother had been freed on a technicality upon the death of a former owner.
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Minty Ross to slave parents, Harriet (Rit) Green and Ben Ross. Rit was owned by Mary Pattison Brodess (and later her son Edward), while Ben was legally owned by Mary's second husband, Anthony Thompson, who ran a large plantation near Blackwater River in Madison, Maryland.