Johnson v. Tompkins

(charging jury). The facts of this case are not complicated, nor is there much contest about those which are material to its decision; the questions of law however are of the last importance, involving the rights of property and the 'personal rights of the citizens of this and other states, to an extent which calls for a plain expression of our opinion, in order to have the law finally settled by the supreme court, on the interesting subjects now before us.

On a question of slavery or freedom, the right is to be established by the same rules of evidence as in other contests about the right to…