A comprehensive survey of civil law and practice in colonial New York.

Foundations of Power: John Marshall, 1801-1815 is the second volume of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States. The volume covers the beginnings of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall and surveys the first fourteen years of John Marshall's tenure. The authors describe the judicial business transacted by the chief justice and the ten Associate Justices with whom he served during those years. They argue that John Marshall's great accomplishment as Chief Justice was to establish the rule of law as the basis of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence. The book chronicles how, by becoming 'a bulwark of an identifiable rule of law as distinct from the accommodations of politics', the relatively feeble institution of the 1790s moved toward the authoritative Marshall Court of 1819.

What began as a standoff between competing steamship entrepreneurs ended as one of the Supreme Court's most significant cases. Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824 brought into sharp relief the ongoing tug-of-war for power between individual states and the federal government. By applying the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, the Court set a key precedent for federal authority. But, behind the scenes, the ""Steamboat Case"" also demonstrated Chief Justice John Marshall's instrumental role as mediator on the bench. Untangling the issues and the arguments in Gibbons, Herbert Johnson reveals the lasting impact of this landmark case on both commerce in the Early Republic and the understanding and growth of federal power during the last 200 years. Johnson brings the case's protagonists--including Marshall and Daniel Webster--vividly to life and deftly illuminates its key aspects: the ambiguity of the Court's judgment; Justice William Johnson's nationalist-oriented concurring opinion; Marshall's avoidance of such key issues as the role of the dormant commerce clause and the relationship of foreign trade, interstate commerce, and diplomatic relations; and Marshall's failure to address patents and state monopolies. Perhaps most significant, the author challenges the traditional view that Gibbons established that the Constitution bestowed upon Congress an exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. Drawing on recent research into the early Court, Johnson shows how Gibbons provides a salient example of Marshall's ability to gain agreement despite severe differences among his colleagues. No longer surrounded by fellow Federalists on the bench, Marshall mustered all of his managerial skills to achieve consensus, and his opinion for the Court reflected the concessions and agreements that he engineered to achieve near unanimity in a decision that favored federal power without establishing a definitive endorsement of it. Johnson shows that the outcome of this case was a key moment in the economic history of the nation, heralding the expansion of entrepreneurship and technology while justifying federal primacy in the regulation of commerce. Concise and ideally suited for the classroom, his study not only provides new insight into this landmark case but also attests to its significance in the working of the early Court. This book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series.

What began as a standoff between competing steamship entrepreneurs ended as one of the Supreme Court's most significant cases. Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824 brought into sharp relief the ongoing tug-of-war for power between individual states and the federal government. By applying the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, the Court set a key precedent for federal authority. But, behind the scenes, the ""Steamboat Case"" also demonstrated Chief Justice John Marshall's instrumental role as mediator on the bench. Untangling the issues and the arguments in Gibbons, Herbert Johnson reveals the lasting impact of this landmark case on both commerce in the Early Republic and the understanding and growth of federal power during the last 200 years. Johnson brings the case's protagonists--including Marshall and Daniel Webster--vividly to life and deftly illuminates its key aspects: the ambiguity of the Court's judgment; Justice William Johnson's nationalist-oriented concurring opinion; Marshall's avoidance of such key issues as the role of the dormant commerce clause and the relationship of foreign trade, interstate commerce, and diplomatic relations; and Marshall's failure to address patents and state monopolies. Perhaps most significant, the author challenges the traditional view that Gibbons established that the Constitution bestowed upon Congress an exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. Drawing on recent research into the early Court, Johnson shows how Gibbons provides a salient example of Marshall's ability to gain agreement despite severe differences among his colleagues. No longer surrounded by fellow Federalists on the bench, Marshall mustered all of his managerial skills to achieve consensus, and his opinion for the Court reflected the concessions and agreements that he engineered to achieve near unanimity in a decision that favored federal power without establishing a definitive endorsement of it. Johnson shows that the outcome of this case was a key moment in the economic history of the nation, heralding the expansion of entrepreneurship and technology while justifying federal primacy in the regulation of commerce. Concise and ideally suited for the classroom, his study not only provides new insight into this landmark case but also attests to its significance in the working of the early Court. This book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series.

The engrossing background story of John Jay, the active lawyer in colonial times, who became the first Chief Justice of the United States.

Collected here are correspondence, papers, and legal documents - including selected judicial opinions - of American jurist John Marshall. Revolutionary officer, congressman, and secretary of state before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Marshall served as the Court's fourth Chief Justice. In this capacity, he helped define the role of the Court and elevate its status, as he interpreted the Constitution from the bench. The documents presented in these volumes - with introductory material and notes - shed light not only on Marshall's life and thought but on the evolution of American jurisprudence as well.

Collected here are correspondence, papers, and legal documents - including selected judicial opinions - of American jurist John Marshall. Revolutionary officer, congressman, and secretary of state before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Marshall served as the Court's fourth Chief Justice. In this capacity, he helped define the role of the Court and elevate its status, as he interpreted the Constitution from the bench. The documents presented in these volumes - with introductory material and notes - shed light not only on Marshall's life and thought but on the evolution of American jurisprudence as well.

At the start of the twentieth century the United States led the world in advances in aviation, with the first successful engine-powered flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and Dayton, Ohio, beginning in 1903. Fifteen years later, however, American airmen flew European-designed aircraft because American planes were woefully inadequate for service on the Western Front. Why was the United States so poorly prepared to engage in aerial combat in World War I? To answer this question, Herbert Johnson takes a hard look at the early years of U.S. military aviation, exploring the cultural, technical, political, and organizational factors that stunted its evolution. Among the recurring themes of Johnson's narrative are the damaging effects of a chronic lack of governmental funding for military aeronautics and the disruptive influence of a civilian ""aeronaut constituency"" both on military discipline and on public and Congressional attitudes toward army aviation. In addition, the Wright brothers' patent litigation hindered the technical development of American aircraft and crippled the domestic aviation industry's manufacturing capacity. Wartime experience helped correct some of these problems, but the persistence of others left the postwar Air Service with an uncertain and stormy future.

A sweeping assessment of the most influential Chief Justice in American history Perhaps no one has exerted a more profound influence on the United States Supreme Court or on the Federal Constitution than Chief Justice John Marshall. In this history of the high court during the critical years from 1801 to 1835, Herbert A. Johnson offers a comprehensive portrait of the court's activities and accomplishments under Marshall's leadership. Johnson demonstrates that in addition to staving off political attacks from the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian political parties, the Marshall Court established the supremacy of the federal government in areas of national concern, enunciated the commerce and contract clauses as critical foundations for economic development, and definitively shaped the structure of federalism before the Civil War.