A DEFENCE OF THE RIGHT OF THE PUBLIC TO THE BATTURE OF NEW ORLEANS

Poydras, Julien

Verlag: Printed for the Author, Washington, 1809

Beschreibung

20pp. Modern half morocco and marbled boards. Early ownership signature on titlepage. Foxing, heaviest on titlepage. Very good. One of the five publications by Julien Poydras concerning the famous New Orleans "batture case." The case was one of the several bitter controversies of Thomas Jefferson's administration and the remaining years of the Federal era. Edward Livingston, a prominent New Orleans attorney, claimed ownership of a strip of alluvial land (the batture) at New Orleans which had long been used as a common boat landing. Jefferson took up the case of the city of New Orleans, asserting government ownership up to the high water mark, and had a federal marshal forcibly dispossess Livingston. This resulted in a celebrated case of the use of federal power which continued to be bitterly argued, so much so that Jefferson felt constrained, four years after leaving the presidency, to compose his legal reasoning in a pamphlet, one of only three full-scale works published under his name in his lifetime. It also brought about one of the few civil suits ever allowed against a sitting president. The case set important precedents in the interaction of federal and state power and had significant local ramifications as well. Julien de Lallande Poydras (1746-1824), a French-born Louisiana poet and philanthropist, was a delegate from the territory of Orleans to the Eleventh United States Congress from 1809 to 1811. Although he had a compelling legal claim to the batture himself, Poydras argues forcefully in the present pamphlet that the land be designated municipal property and kept for public use, "in conformity to our ancient laws" (p.16). The pamphlet was succeeded by FURTHER OBSERVATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE RIGHT OF THE PUBLIC. in 1809 and by two speeches delivered before Congress and published in 1810. SABIN 64843. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 18438. SOWERBY, JEFFERSON'S LIBRARY 3486. COHEN 11695. DAB XV, pp.163-64. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM42990

Bibliografische Details

Titel: A DEFENCE OF THE RIGHT OF THE PUBLIC TO THE ...

Verlag: Printed for the Author, Washington

Erscheinungsdatum: 1809