- Fletcher v. Peck
SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Fletcher v. Peck
ArgueDate=February 15
ArgueYear=1810
DecideDate=March 16
DecideYear=1810
FullName=Robert Fletcher v. John Peck
USVol=10
USPage=87
Citation=10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87; 3 L. Ed. 162;1810 U.S. LEXIS 322;
Prior=Demurrer overruled, D. Mass
Subsequent=None
Holding=The Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibited Georgia from voiding contracts for the transfer of land, even though they were secured through illegal bribery. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts affirmed.
SCOTUS=1807-1810
Majority=Marshall
JoinMajority=Cushing, Chase, Washington, Livingston, Todd
Concurrence/Dissent=Johnson
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. art. I, § 10, cl. 1"Fletcher v. Peck", ussc|10|87|
1810 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. It was the first case in which the Supreme Court ruled a state law unconstitutional. The case grew out of the1795 Georgia state legislature's sale of land in the Yazoo River country (in what is nowMississippi ) to private speculators in return for bribes. Voters rejected most of the incumbents in the next election, and the next legislature, reacting to the public outcry, repealed the law and voided transactions made under it.John Peck had purchased land that had previously been sold under the 1795 act. Peck sold this land to Robert Fletcher and in
1803 , Fletcher brought suit against Peck, claiming that he did not have clear title to the land when he sold it. The case reached the Supreme Court, which in a unanimous decision ruled that the state legislature's repeal of the law was unconstitutional. The opinion, written byJohn Marshall , argued that the sale was a binding contract, which according to Article I, Section 10, Clause I (theContract Clause ) of the Constitution cannot be invalidated, even if illegally secured. Today the ruling further protects property rights against popular pressures, and is the earliest case of the Court asserting its right to invalidate state laws conflicting with the Constitution.ee also
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 10
*Yazoo land scandal
*Contract Clause Further reading
*"John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation" by
Jean Edward Smith , 1996, Henry Holt & Company.
*"Yazoo: Law and Politics in the New Republic: The Case of Fletcher v. Peck" by C. Peter Magrath, 1966 ISBN 0-608-18419-5External links
*caselaw source
case="Fletcher v. Peck", 10 U.S. 87 (1810)
enfacto=http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./10/87/
findlaw=http://laws.findlaw.com/us/10/87.html
other_source1=LII
other_url1=http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?10+87
other_source2=University of Tulsa
other_url2=http://www.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/USSCT_Cases/FLETCHER_V_PECK_1810.HTM
* [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/124/ The Oyez Project]
* [http://www.michaelariens.com/ConLaw/cases/fletcher.htm Famous Cases]
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