Author: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

PRIMARY DOCUMENT

Commonwealth versus Camillus Griffith (1823)

In Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Camillus Griffith, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upholds the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 in the case of a Virginia slaveowner attempting to capture and return his runaway slave. The opinion, dated October 18, 1823, is written by Chief Justice Isaac Parker, the dissent by Justice George Thatcher (also known as Thacher).