Studies in the Legal History of the South : Southern Judicial Tradition : State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790-1890

This first book to examine the lives and work of nineteenth-century southern judges explores the emergence of a southern judiciary and the effects of regional peculiarities and attitudes on legal development. Drawing on the judicial opinions and private correspondence of six chief justices whose careers span both the region and the century, Timothy S. Huebner analyzes their conceptions of their roles and the substance of their opinions related to cases involving homicide, economic development, federalism, and race. Examining judges both on and off the bench―as formulators of law and as citizens whose lives were intertwined with southern values―Huebner reveals the tensions that sometimes arose out of loyalties to sectional principles and national professional consciousness. He exposes the myth of southern leniency in appellate homicide decisions and also shows how the southern judiciary contributed to and reflected larger trends in American legal development. This book adds to our understanding of both southern distinctiveness and American legal culture. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict COVER 1 CONTENTS 10 PREFACE 12 INTRODUCTION: Southerners, Judges, and Southern Judges 18 CHAPTER ONE: Spencer Roane, Virginia Legal Culture, and the Rise of a Southern Judiciary 27 CHAPTER TWO: John Catron, Jacksonian Jurisprudence, and the Expansion of the South 57 CHAPTER THREE: Joseph Henry Lumpkin and the Vision of an Independent South 87 CHAPTER FOUR: John Hemphill, the Texas Supreme Court, and the "Taming" of the Frontier 116 CHAPTER FIVE: Thomas Ruffin, Judicial Pragmatism, and Southern Constitutionalism 147 CHAPTER SIX: George W. Stone, Political Sectionalism, and Legal Nationalism 177 CONCLUSION: Southern Judges and American Legal Culture 203 NOTES 210 BIBLIOGRAPHY 242 INDEX 270 A 270 B 270 C 270 D 272 E 272 F 272 G 272 H 273 I 274 J 274 K 274 L 274 M 275 N 275 O 276 P 276 R 277 S 277 T 278 U 279 V 279 W 280 Y 280 Z 280 "The first book to examine the lives and work of nineteenth-century southern judges, The Southern Judicial Tradition explores the emergence of a southern judiciary and the effects of regional peculiarities and attitudes on legal development. Drawing on the judicial opinions and private correspondence of six chief justices whose careers span both the region and the century, Timothy S. Huebner analyzes their conceptions of their roles and the substance of their opinions in cases involving homicide, economic development, federalism, and race An exploration of the emergence of a southern judiciary and the effects of regional attitudes on legal development. It draws on the opinions and correspondence of six chief justices to analyze their conception of their roles and the substance of their attitudes to various cases.