Champion and Dickason v. Casey Cir. Ct., Rhode Island (1792)

views updated

CHAMPION AND DICKASON v. CASEY Cir. Ct., Rhode Island (1792)

Reported widely in newspapers in June 1792, this was the first case in which a federal court held a state act unconstitutional as a violation of the contract clause. Rhode Island had passed a stay law, postponing by three years the time for a debtor to pay his creditors.

The Circuit Court for the district, presided over by Chief Justice john jay, ruled that the stay law impaired the obligation of contracts contrary to Article I, section 10.

Leonard W. Levy
(1986)

More From encyclopedia.com