{"id":1197,"date":"2006-01-10T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-10T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/archives\/1197"},"modified":"2011-09-26T22:55:07","modified_gmt":"2011-09-27T02:55:07","slug":"top-ten-20-legal-cases-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/archives\/1197","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten (20?) Legal Cases in History"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m planning another “Variation on a Standard” quilt pattern idea, and I’d like to do a pattern called “Courthouse Steps” (a log cabin variant)<\/a> with screen printed fabric that has citations from influential law cases printed on it, to commemorate my new job at the Attorney General’s office. <\/p>\n

Now, initially, I asked if he could identify for me the top ten most influential \/ important \/ amusing \/ discussed law cases that had set precedents and made news, but now I’m thinking I should shoot for twenty, based on the idea that to make a proper quilt, I’d need a 5×4 grid of quilt squares, which means 20 cases. I’ll probably arrange them in chronological order. <\/p>\n

Feel free to throw in your two cents worth about which legal cases you think have changed the course of history<\/b> (no imaginary cases a la Kramer v. Kramer, please!). International law is perfectly fine, and Canadian law is especially welcome since it’s mostly American so far.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we have so far<\/strong><\/p>\n

R. v. Dudley and Stephens (in which Dudley, Stephens and two others were stranded in a lifeboat following a shipwreck. Dudley and Stephens decided to kill and eat the cabin-boy, and then were miraculously rescued, only to be arrested and sentenced to death for their crime. Bizarrely, the public seemed to love them, so Queen Victoria commuted their sentences and spared them the noose. <\/p>\n

Brown v. Board of Education (1954, U.S. Supreme Court): in which the U.S. Supreme Court dragged the southern U.S. into the twentieth century, kicking and screaming, by declaring that “separate but equal” wasn’t equal enough and requiring the racial integration of public schools. <\/p>\n

R. v. Oakes (1986, Supreme Court of Canada): in which the Canadian Supreme Court set out the test for justifying a reasonable limit on a constitutional right. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets out a laundry list of rights, but allows the government to infringe those rights when doing so would be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” Nobody knew what the hell that meant until this case, when poor Mr. Oakes was caught in possession of some cocaine and was automatically charged with trafficking, a much more serious offence than possession, because of a provision in the criminal code which held that if you had coke on you, you would be assumed to be a dealer. This violated the presumption of innocence, but the government argued that it was necessary to ignore that legal right in order to catch more coke dealers. The government lost, and just about every Charter case since then has used the test set out in this case.<\/p>\n

Miller v. Jackson (1977, British Court of Queen’s Bench): in which the plaintiff, who was tired of having her windows broken by errant balls from the cricket field next door, lost her case more or less because the judge really really liked cricket. As evidence, I present to you the opening paragraph of Lord Denning’s judgment in the case:
\n“In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch. In the village of Lintz in County Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last 70 years. They tend it well. The wicket area is well rolled and mown. The outfield is kept short . . . [y]et now after these 70 years a judge of the High Court has ordered that they must not play there anymore . . . [h]e has done it at the instance of a newcomer who is no lover of cricket.
\nThis newcomer has built . . . a house on the edge of the cricket ground which four years ago was a field where cattle grazed. The animals did not mind the cricket.”<\/p>\n

Bush v. Gore (2000, U.S. Supreme Court): in which the USSC decided, on the flimsiest legal grounds yet invented, to halt the Florida recount and hand the presidency to Bush. The judges were so keenly aware of the unprincipled, corrupt nature of their decision that they didn’t sign it and expressly stated that their reasoning should not be used as precedent in any future cases. A low point in the world of jurisprudence, and a dark stain on the world’s most powerful court. <\/p>\n

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) — Slaves were classified as property. This case fueled the flames that began the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) — This famous case laid the groundwork for the “separate but equal doctrine” that limited the rights of minorities for decades.<\/p>\n

Schenck v. United States (1919) — “Clear and Present Danger” was established in this case as an acceptable reason for the limiting of free expression.<\/p>\n

Gitlow v. New York (1925) — The Supreme court began in this case to identify the rights that were protected by the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.<\/p>\n

Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) — Prayer in classrooms was determined to be in violation of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) — Free legal counsel was established in this case to be necessary in case the defendent in any criminal case cannot afford it. <\/p>\n

Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) — The Supreme Court declared here that each person’s vote carries equal measure. <\/p>\n

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) — Marital privacy (specifically, the use of contraceptives) was protected by this case.<\/p>\n

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) — Poll taxes were made illegal for state elections, as they violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. <\/p>\n

Miranda v. Arizona (1966) — The rights of the accused were upheld by this ruling. Thus, Miranda Rights!<\/p>\n

In Re Gault (1967) — Children were granted some of the rights in criminal cases protected by the Bill of Rights. <\/p>\n

Roe v. Wade (1973) — In this highly controversial case the Supreme Court laid down what states can and cannot control in regards to abortions. <\/p>\n

United States v. Nixon (1974) — The President’s “Executive Priviledge” was limited by this case. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m planning another “Variation on a Standard” quilt pattern idea, and I’d like to do a pattern called “Courthouse Steps” (a log cabin variant) with screen printed fabric that has citations from influential law cases printed on it, to commemorate my new job at the Attorney General’s office. Now, initially, I asked if he could […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1312,1311,1310,1309],"class_list":["post-1197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consciousness","tag-cases","tag-courthouse-steps","tag-law","tag-quilts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2408,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions\/2408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}