Lemmon v. New York
| Lemmon v. New York | |
|---|---|
| Court | New York Court of Appeals |
| Decided | March 1860 |
| Citation | 20 N.Y. 562 (1860) |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | George F. Comstock (chief), Henry E. Davies, Samuel Lee Selden, Hiram Denio, William B. Wright (acting), Thomas W. Clerke (acting), William J. Bacon (acting), Henry Welles (acting) |
| Case opinions | |
| Decision by | Denio, Wright |
| Concurrence | Davis, Bacon, Welles |
| Dissent | Clerke, Comstock |
| Keywords | |
Lemmon v. New York, or Lemmon v. The People (1860), popularly known as the Lemmon Slave Case, was a freedom suit initiated in 1852 by a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition was granted by the Superior Court in New York City, a decision upheld by the New York Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, in 1860 on the eve of the Civil War.
The decision mandated the release of eight slaves, including six children, brought into New York by their Virginia slave owners, Jonathan and Juliet Lemmon, who were in transit while relocating to Texas. New York had abolished slavery gradually beginning in 1799, freeing all remaining slaves on July 4, 1827. An 1841 state law explicitly prohibited slaveholders from bringing slaves in transit to the state, liberating any slaves so brought.
Attorney John Jay (1817–1894) represented the state in the 1852 case. Future President Chester A. Arthur represented the state on appeal by the former slaveowners. Counsel to him were William M. Evarts, Joseph Blunt, and Erastus D. Culver.