In this the Bicentennial year, this Seminar will consider landmark cases in the Maryland State and Federal Courts between 1807 and 1827 – the period before, during, and after the War of 1812. It will focus on the issues of the time that found their day in court in the port city of Baltimore. Among the controversies to be considered are: the taking of prizes, the impressments of sailors, the attacks on civil liberties, the institution of slavery, and the restraints on growth of a free black community.
Special attention will be given to the legal documentation involved in the resolution of these cases (the dockets, transcripts, depositions, exhibits and working papers, etc.). Students will be encouraged to find and use as primary sources for historical study the legal documents found in the Baltimore City, Maryland State and National Archives, and on digital data bases. Each student will be called upon to prepare a case study that puts a court decision in its social, economic l and political context. Selected student papers will be e-published in the Maryland Legal History Collection of the Thurgood Marshall Law Library.
Students may use their papers in satisfaction of the law school’s Advanced Writing Requirement. The Seminar will be conducted at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law at 500 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore MD 21201.
The Instructors are:
|This course is not currently scheduled.|