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Edward Prigg, Plaintiff in error, v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Defendant in error U.S. 539 (1842)

handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0326 and id is 1 raw text is: E!DWARD PRiGG, PLAINTIFF IN EliuRo, v. THE. COMMONWEALTH OF, PENNSYLVANIA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR. A writ of error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, brought under .the twenty- fifth section of the judiciary act of 1789, to revise the judgment of that Court, on a case involving the construction of the Constituton and laws of the United States. Edward Prigg, a citizen of the state of Maryland, was indicted, for kidnapping,'in the Court of Oyer and Terminer of York coupty, Pennsylvania, for. having forcibly' taken and carried away, from that county, to the state of Maryland,'a negro woman, named Margaret Morgan, with the design and intention of her being held, sold, and disposed of as a slave for life, contrary to a statute of Pennsylvania, passed on th6 twenty-sixth day of March, 1826. Edwvgrd Prigg pleaded not guilty, and the jury found a special verdict, on which judgment was rendered for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The case was removed to the Supreme Court of the state, and the judgment of the Court of Oyer and Tbrminer was, pro forna, affirmed: and the case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States; the constitutionality, of. the law, under which the indictment was found, being denied by the counsel of the state of Maryland; which state had undertaken the defence for Edward: Prigg, and prosecuted the writ of error. The cause was brought to the Supreme Court, with the sanction of both the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, with-a view to have the questions in the case settled. Margaret Morgan was the slave for life, under the laws of Maryland, of Maigaret Ashmore, a citizen of that -state. In 1832 she escaped and fled from the state, into -Pennsylvania. Edward Prigg, having been duly appointed the agent and attorney of Margaret Ashmore, and having obtained a wanant from a justice of the peace of York county caused Margaret Morgan to be taken, as a fugitive from labour, by aconstable of the state -of Pennsylvania, before the magistrate, who refused to take cognisance of the ease: and thereupon Edward Prigg carried her and her children into Maryland, and delivered them to Margaret Ashmore. The children were born in Pennsylvania; one of them, more than a year after Margaret Morgan had fled and escaped-from Maryland. By the first section of the act of Assembly of Pefinsylvania of 25th March, 1826, it is provided, that if any person shall by force and violence take and carry away, or shall by fraud or false pretence attenipt to take, carry away, or seduce any negro or mu- latto from any part of 'the commonwealth, with a design or intention of selling and disposing of, or keeping or detaining such negro or mulatto as a slave or ser ant for life, or for any other term whatsoever, such, person, and all persons aiding and abetting him, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall forfeit and pay a ium not less than five hundred nor more than three thousand dollars, and shall be sentenced to undergo a servitude for any term or terms of years, not less than seven years, her exceeding twenty-one years; anq shall be con- fined and kept at hard iabour, &c- .)ther provisions are contained in the act; and it was passed in 1826, as declared in its title, to aid in carrying into effect -the Constitution and laws qf the United State , relating to fugitives from labour; and on the application to the legislature, by commissioneis from the Ate of Maryland, 539

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