Prigg v. Pennsylvania

Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided March 1, 1842
Full case name	Edward Prigg v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Citations	41 U.S. 539 (more) 10 L. Ed. 1060; 1842 U.S. LEXIS 387
Prior history	In error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Holding
Federal law is superior to state law, but states do not have to use their resources to enforce federal law.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Story
Concurrence	Taney, Thompson, Wayne, Daniel, McLean

Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that the federal Fugitive Slave Act precluded a Pennsylvania state law, which prohibited blacks from being taken out of Pennsylvania into slavery. The Court overturned the conviction of Edward Prigg as a result.

Occurring under the presidency of John Tyler, Prigg v. Pennsylvania is notable in the history of American civil rights for having further weakened the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 after much circumvention of it on the part of state jurisdictions.

In March 1789, the Constitution of the United States came into force, having been ratified by nine states. Article IV, Section 2 contained two clauses (the Extradition Clause and the Fugitive Slave Clause) that did not use the term "slavery" directly but related to the legality of fleeing justice, creditors, owners, or other agencies across state borders and to escaped slaves:

On February 12, 1793, the Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, the long title of which was "An Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters".

On March 29, 1788, the State of Pennsylvania passed an amendment to one of its laws (An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, originally enacted March 1, 1780): "No negro or mulatto slave... shall be removed out of this state, with the design and intention that the place of abode or residence of such slave or servant shall be thereby altered or changed."