Slaughter-House Cases
Supreme Court of the United States Image File history File links Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court. ...
Decided
Full case name: Citations: 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873) Prior history: Subsequent history:
Holding
The 14th Amendment does not protect the privileges and immunities of state citizenship, only national citizenship. The privileges and immunities of state citizenship may not be interfered with by the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection, Due Process, and Priviliges and Immunities Clauses.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Salmon P. Chase Associate Justices: Samuel Freeman Miller, Noah Haynes Swayne, Nathan Clifford, Stephen Johnson Field, William Strong, Joseph Philo Bradley, Ward Hunt, David Davis
Case opinions
Majority by: Miller Joined by: Clifford, Strong, Hunt and Davis Dissent by: Field Joined by: Chase, Swayne and Bradley Dissent by: Bradley Dissent by: Swayne
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Art. IV. sec. 2, 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

The Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1873) represented a block appeal to the United States Supreme Court testing the relatively new Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It is viewed as a pivotal case in early civil rights law, as it narrowly read the Fourteenth Amendment to protect only "privileges or immunities" conferred by virtue of national but not state citizenship, a distinction which persists to this day. Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808 – May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist in the Civil War era who served as Senator from Ohio, Governor of Ohio, as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Justice of the United States. ... Samuel Freeman Miller (April 5, 1816 - October 13, 1890), was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1862-1890. ... Noah Haynes Swayne (December 7, 1804 - June 8, 1884) was an American jurist and politician. ... Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803–July 25, 1881) was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist. ... Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897. ... William Strong was the name of the following men: William Strong (1763-1840), a congressman from Vermont. ... Joseph Philo Bradley (March 14, 1813 – January 22, 1892), was an American jurist, best known for his service on the United States Supreme Court, and on the Electoral Commission that decided the disputed 1876 presidential election. ... Ward Hunt (June 14, 1810-March 24, 1886), was an American jurist and politician. ... David Davis III (March 9, 1815 - June 26, 1886) was a United States Senator from Illinois and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the U.S.. As the highest court, it provides the leadership of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. ... The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is one of the post-Civil War amendments and includes the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

Properly known as Slaughter-House Cases, the decision consolidated three similar cases:

1. The Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Live-Stock Landing and Slaughter-House Company
2. Paul Esteben, L. Ruch, J. P. Rouede, W. Maylie, S. Firmberg, B. Beaubay, William Fagan, J. D. Broderick, N. Seibel, M. Lannes, J. Gitzinger, J. P. Aycock, D. Verges, The Live-Stock Dealers' and Butchers' Association of New Orleans, and Charles Cavaroc v. The State of Louisiana, ex rel. S. Belden, Attorney-General
3. The Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Live-Stock Landing and Slaughter-House Company

John A. Campbell, attorney for the butchers

In 1869, the Louisiana legislature passed a law that allowed the city of New Orleans to create a corporation that centralized all slaughterhouse operations in the city. The stated purpose of the new arrangement was to restrict the dumping of remains and waste in waterways and provide a single place for animals to be kept and slaughtered; critics called it a legal monopoly based on political patronage designed to shut down independent butchers. There were a number of provisions in the act creating the company, the pertinent being: http://www. ... http://www. ... Official language(s) English and French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans at last census; probably Baton Rouge since Hurricane Katrina Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 31st 134,382 km² 210 km 610 km 16 29°N to 33°N 89°W to 94°W Population... Nickname: The Crescent City, The Big Easy, The City That Care Forgot, The Dirty Dirty Motto: Official website: http://www. ... It has been suggested that Incorporation (business) be merged into this article or section. ... Workers and cattle in a slaughterhouse. ...

• fixed prices for the offloading and maintenance of livestock
• fixed prices for butchers who want to use the facilities
• a clause describing the process of collecting unpaid monies
• provide for a livestock inspector to ascertain animal health and fitness

Twenty-five butchers and those involved in the unloading, feeding, slaughtering, and other activities associated with converting livestock into food filed various actions attempting to halt the creation of the new corporation and any contemplated changes to the slaughtering business in New Orleans. Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... The Butcher and his Servant, drawn and engraved by J. Amman (Sixteenth Century). ...

The lower courts found in favor of the new corporation in all cases. Some five cases were appealed to the Supreme Court. The butchers based their claims on the due process, privileges or immunities and equal protection clauses in the new amendment. Their attorney, former Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell (who had retired due to his Confederate loyalties), argued for a new, broad reading of the Fourteenth Amendment: the new Amendment protected the rights of individuals to "sustain their lives through labor," as well as the freed slaves, he argued. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Equal Protection Clause is a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall. ...

In a five-four decision issued on April 14, 1873, the court held to a narrow interpretation of the amendment and ruled that it did not restrict the 'police powers' of the state. The court held that the Fourteenth Amendment Privileges or Immunities clause affected only rights of "national citizenship," and not state citizenship. Therefore the butchers' Fourteenth Amendment rights had not been violated. The court saw due process in a procedural light at this time rather than substantive. The court further held that the amendment was primarily intended to protect former slaves, and so could not be broadly applied.

Justice Stephen J. Field, joined by three other justices, wrote an influential dissent, in which he accepted Campbell's reading the amendment as not confined to protection of freed slaves, but rather as embracing the common law presumption in favor of an individual right to pursue a legitimate occupation. Field's reading of the due process clause of the amendment would prevail in future cases, in which the court read the amendment broadly to protect property interests against hostile state laws. Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

This case has and continues to be referred to in some conspiracy theories involving the extension of government powers. This is because it is one of the first decisions in which the courts opinion discussed a form of dual citizenship: State Citizens and U.S. Citizens. A conspiracy theory is a theory that defies common historical or current understanding of events, under the claim that those events are the result of manipulations by two or more individuals or various secretive powers or conspiracies. ...

Note that the Dred Scott case refers to state citizenship and U.S. citizenship as two different kinds of citizenship. Dred Scott Dred Scott (ca. ...

Further reading

• Ronald Labbe; "Regulation, Reconstruction, and the Fourteenth Amendment"; 2003, University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0700612904.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court Cases

This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. ...

External links

• Full text of the decision courtesy of FindLaw.