298:. She was a light-skinned slave believed by some in the German immigrant community to be Salomé Müller. Known as the "Lost German Slave Girl", as a grown woman Miller was found living as a slave. Müller had immigrated as a young child with her family, and her father had signed an indenture agreement covering the whole family to pay their passage. A few weeks after the family left New Orleans to work, the father and son were reported to have died, but no one knew what became of the two young girls, Dorothea, six, and Salomé four.
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Martin's eyesight had begun to fail when he was seventy; after 1836 he could no longer write opinions with his own hand and would dictate them. He refused to resign from the court. As a consequence, together with his court's unpopular decision above, in March 1846 the
Louisiana State Constitutional
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in favor of his brother in France (written in 1841 and devising property worth nearly $ 400,000) was unsuccessfully contested by the state of
Louisiana. The state argued that the will was void as a legal and physical impossibility because of Martin's blindness, or as being an attempted fraud on the
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for her against Miller's owners, challenging her slave status on the grounds that she was a native-born
European. Much contradictory evidence was introduced, and the documentation and claimed identities were confusing. A lower court ruled that Miller had been sold as a legal slave, but Martin and
69:(1845 La). The court ruled to free Miller, a slave of obvious European descent, in part based on her appearance; the presumption was that she was "white" (European American), and the defendants had not sufficiently proved that she was enslaved. The decision was unpopular in the
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It was an unpopular decision in a time and place where many slaves were mixed race and appeared to be "white". The case highlighted the prevalence of interracial relationships between white men and enslaved women that resulted in mixed-race children. In addition, the
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and contributed to the
Louisiana Constitutional Convention's abolishing the state Supreme Court in March 1846, ending Martin's career at the age of 84. The following day, the convention reinstated the court but did not reappoint Martin or his five colleagues.
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That on the law of slavery in the case of a person visibly appearing to be a white man, or an Indian, the presumption is he is free, and it is necessary for his adversity to show that he is a slave.
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Convention abolished the
Supreme Court, ending Martin's career as a jurist. When the Convention reconstituted the court the following day, it did not reappoint Martin or his fellow five justices.
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30:(March 17, 1762 – December 10, 1846), was a Franco-American lawyer and author, the first Attorney General of State of Louisiana, and longtime Justice of the
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state. Under the will, the state could not levy the customary 10% estate tax since the property went to Martin's heirs in France.
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Members of the German-American community believed that Sally Miller was MĂĽller. They arranged for an attorney to file a
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The
American territorial administration began to try to create laws consistent with its own tradition, and in 1808 the
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The Lost German Slave Girl: The
Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
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In 1811 and 1813, Martin published reports of cases decided by the superior court of the
Territory of Orleans.
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Likely his most well-known case in his decade as Chief
Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court was that of the
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A General Digest of the Acts of
Legislatures of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the State of Louisiana
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A General Digest of the Acts of Legislatures of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the State of Louisiana
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Martin earned the name "Father of Louisiana Jurisprudence." His work was the foundation for the work of
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reviewed the policy. By the time of the U.S. territorial annexation, the status of slaves of mixed
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movement was then viewed as a threat to the culture and cotton economy of the South.
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the justices of the supreme court ruled that she was free. Their decision in
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had issued a proclamation in 1769 banning Indian slavery, the protests from
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was adopted by Orleans Territorial legislature. It was an adaptation by
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591:. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 794.
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Respected for his learning, Martin was appointed presiding judge of the
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in 1780, and then immigrated to North Carolina just before the end
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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378:. 2 vols. New Orleans: Gresham, 1827–1829 (reprint Pelican, 1963).
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François Martin was elected as a member of the lower house of the
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convinced him to let them retain slaves of Indian descent while
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descent. In 1780 as a young man he went to the French colony of
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A Treatise on Obligations, Considered in a Moral and Legal View
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Celebration of the Centenary of the Supreme Court of Louisiana
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in some respects. For instance, although the Spanish governor
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at an established firm, he was admitted to the North Carolina
449:(March 1, 1913), in John Wymond, Henry Plauché Dart, eds.,
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by the elected governor of the newly established state of
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Judges of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans
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Judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans
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Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
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Acts of the North Carolina Assembly from 1715 to 1803
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Acts of the North Carolina Assembly from 1715 to 1803
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Francois Xavier Martin, Attorney General of Louisiana
406:, who wrote the Louisiana codification of 1821–1826.
376:The History of Louisiana, from the Earliest Period
372:(1816), published both French and English versions
143:in 1789. He published various legal books, edited
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129:business, and printed a number of books, and the
46:. He was appointed as Attorney General of the
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484:Carol Wilson, "Sally Muller, the White Slave"
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667:Attorney General of the Territory of Orleans
503:. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 248.
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125:by typesetting as a printer. He set up a
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254:Attorney-general and supreme court judge
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258:In February 1813, Martin was appointed
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637:Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
1200:French emigrants to the United States
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167:, where he served in 1806 to 1807.
135:newspaper in North Carolina. After
1190:Freedom suits in the United States
451:The Louisiana Historical Quarterly
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626:Dictionary of Louisiana Biography
549:Dictionary of Louisiana Biography
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621:Louisiana Historical Association
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490:, Vol. 40, accessed 8 March 2011
147:(2nd ed., 1809), and translated
165:North Carolina General Assembly
889:Attorneys General of Louisiana
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719:Attorney General of Louisiana
382:The History of North Carolina
282:Sally Miller (American slave)
235:, which repealed the Spanish
214:descent was still unsettled.
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411:American Antiquarian Society
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16:American judge (1762–1846)
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170:In 1809 he was appointed
629:(Scroll down to Martin.)
603:Image of Francois Martin
409:Elected a member of the
220:Digest of the Civil Laws
105:Before the close of the
754:Chief Justice 1836–1846
617:MARTIN, François Xavier
588:Encyclopædia Britannica
583:Martin, François Xavier
538:MARTIN, François Xavier
290:(1845 La), which was a
109:, Martin immigrated to
32:Louisiana Supreme Court
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633:François-Xavier Martin
608:Francois Xavier Martin
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334:in December 1846. His
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132:North-Carolina Gazette
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418:Académie de Marseille
360:Robert Joseph Pothier
330:That year he died in
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78:Early life and career
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48:Territory of Orleans
739:George Mathews, Jr.
712:Louis Moreau-Lislet
677:Louis Moreau-Lislet
404:Louis Moreau-Lislet
275:State Supreme Court
229:Louis Moreau-Lislet
200:French slaveholders
82:Martin was born in
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660:James Brown
332:New Orleans
225:James Brown
1149:Categories
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1035:Cunningham
1025:Cunningham
750:1815–1846
723:1813–1815
698:1810–1813
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559:References
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50:after the
40:Martinique
34:. Born in
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940:Mazureau
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842:Thompson
541:Archived
420:in 1817.
413:in 1812.
241:partidas
196:O'Reilly
178:(future
127:printing
115:New Bern
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1080:LeBlanc
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950:Preston
925:Preston
832:Mathews
812:Prevost
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348:Edited
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208:African
174:of the
149:Pothier
123:English
98:in the
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1010:Steele
995:Beldon
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955:Elmore
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930:Morphy
900:Martin
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237:fueros
119:French
113:. In
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1000:Field
990:Lynch
980:Goode
970:MoĂŻse
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817:Kirby
425:Notes
71:South
65:, in
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