LUTHER VS. BORDEN
\lˈuːðə vˌiːˈɛs], \lˈuːðə vˌiːˈɛs], \l_ˈuː_ð_ə v_ˌiː__ˈɛ_s]\
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A celebrated case in the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1842 Luther, of Massachusetts, brought action of trespass in the Circuit Court of Rhode Island against Borden for entering his house by force. In 1841 a portion of the people of Rhode Island had framed a new Constitution and elected Thomas W. Dorr Governor in opposition to the charter government. (See Dorr War.) That government, King being the executive, declared the State under martial law, and Luther's house was searched, he being implicated in the armed conspiracy against the constitutional government. Luther pleaded the constitutionality of the new government, but the Circuit Court found judgment against him and this the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed, 1842. But it was decided that the question of the constitutionality of a State government lay rather with Congress than the judicial courts. Also it was decided that under martial law suspected persons might be legally arrested by State authority.
By John Franklin Jameson
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