Hobbs v. Fogg
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
WRIT of error to the common pleas of Luzerne county. This was an action on the case, brought in. the court below, by William Fogg, the defendant in error, against the plaintiffs in error, Hiram Hobbs, inspector, and .Levi Baldwin, John Miller, and Uriah A. Gritaer, judges, of the general election, held in the county of Luzerne, on the 13th of October 1835. The plaintiff below was a coloured man, either a negro or mulatto, and, it would seem, brought this action, for the…
Read the full summary
WRIT of error to the common pleas of Luzerne county. This was an action on the case, brought in. the court below, by William Fogg, the defendant in error, against the plaintiffs in error, Hiram Hobbs, inspector, and .Levi Baldwin, John Miller, and Uriah A. Gritaer, judges, of the general election, held in the county of Luzerne, on the 13th of October 1835. The plaintiff below was a coloured man, either a negro or mulatto, and, it would seem, brought this action, for the purpose of establishing a right, which he claimed to have, of voting at the general election, held in the county where he…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
This record raises, a second time, the only question on a phrase in the constitution, which has occurred since its adoption; and however partizans may have disputed the wisdom of its provisions, no man has disputed the clearness and precision of its phraseology. We have often been called upon to enforce its limitations of legislative power; but the business of interpretation was incidental, and the difficulty was not in the diction, but in the uncertainty of the act to which it was to be applied. I have said, a question on the meaning of a…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Farmers' & Mechanics' Bank v. SmithSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1817
3Cited by3 opinions
- Beckett v. School Board of the City of NorfolkDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia · 1969
- West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad v. MilesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1867
- Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. MathuesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1904