page_title: Old Court – New Court controversy
section_title: Formation of the New Court
hierarchical_section_title: Old Court – New Court controversy / Formation of the New Court
context_page_description: The Old Court – New Court controversy was a 19th-century political controversy in the U.S. state of Kentucky in which the Kentucky General Assembly abolished the Kentucky Court of Appeals and replaced it with a new court. The justices of the old court refused to recognize the action as valid, and for a time, two separate courts operated as the court of last resort for the state.
  The controversy began when the financial Panic of 1819 left many Kentuckians in debt and unable to meet their financial obligations. A debt relief movement began in the state, and pro-relief candidates won majorities in the General Assembly in 1820. The Assembly passed a law of replevin that was extremely favorable to debtors. Disgruntled creditors challenged the constitutionality of the law, appealing their case to the Court of Appeals. The court opined in favor of the creditors. Attempts to remove the anti-relief justices failed. The pro-relief legislature passed a measure abolishing the Court of Appeals and replacing it with a new court, to which pro-relief governor Joseph Desha appointed pro-relief justices who upheld the replevin law.
context_section_description: The Assembly passed resolutions against all three justices on the Court of Appeals, but did not possess the two-thirds majority to remove them. Governor John Adair, a Relief Party supporter, urged the resistance, framing the issue as the court impeding the right of the people to self-govern. His efforts drew a resolution against him from the anti-relief minority on November 8, 1823. 
  Frustrated by their defeats in the judiciary, the Relief Party turned its attention to the gubernatorial election of 1824, where they backed General Joseph Desha. Desha's election by the overwhelming vote of 38,378–22,499 was seen by the party as a mandate to pursue the relief agenda. An early proposal to reduce the salaries of the Court of Appeals justices to 25 cents per year was discarded without a vote, but the House of Representatives mustered the votes to remove the offending justices. The justices were spared removal when the Senate failed to pass the measure with a two-thirds majority. The vote was 23–12.
  On December 9, 1824, the Senate voted to repeal the law that had established the Court of Appeals and to establish a new Court of Appeals with four justices. The measure came to the House floor on December 23. During the debate, Governor Desha personally lobbied legislators to support the measure, a blatant violation of the rules of the House. The next day the measure passed in the House by a vote of 54–43. Governor Desha appointed pro-relief stalwart William T. Barry as Chief Justice, and three associate justices who were also Relief Party supporters.
  The existing court and the anti-relief party refused to recognize the new court as valid. Achilles Sneed, clerk of the Old Court, refused a legislative mandate to turn over his records to the New Court by January 1825. Francis Blair, the New Court clerk, assembled a group that broke into Sneed's office and took what records they could find. Sneed was charged with contempt of court and fined for refusing to turn over the records. The Old Court continued to meet in a church in Frankfort; with two supreme courts, the possibility of civil war in Kentucky loomed.
caption: William T. Barry served as Chief Justice of the New Court
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