The slaughterhouse cases
Subtitle: regulation, Reconstruction, and the Fourteenth Amendment
By: Ronald M. Labb, Jonathan Lurie.
Contributors: Lurie, Jonathan, 1939-
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Lawrence, Kan
Language: eng
Number of pages: 295
Subjects: Slaughtering and slaughter-houses -- Law and legislation -- Louisiana -- History -- 19th century; Civil rights -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Monopolies -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Description: "The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, sought to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves; but its first important test did not arise until five years later. When it did, it centered on a vitriolic dispute among the white butchers of mid-Reconstruction New Orleans."

"The rough-and-tumble world of nineteenth-century New Orleans was a sanitation night-mare, with the city's many slaughterhouses dumping animal remains into neighboring backwaters. When Louisiana finally authorized a monopoly slaughterhouse to bring about sanitation reform, many butchers felt disenfranchised from their livelihoods. Framing their case as an infringement of fundamental rights protected by the new amendment, they flooded the lower courts with nearly 300 suits. The surviving cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court pitted the butchers' right-to-labor against the state's "police power" to regulate public health. The result was a controversial and long-debated decision that for the first time addressed the meaning the import of the Fourteenth Amendment."

"In The Slaughterhouse Cases, Labbe and Lurie take a much needed look at a landmark decision that has been far more cited than closely studied. Engagingly written and insightfully argued, the book provides the most complete analysis yet of this controversial Supreme Court decision, fills a major gap in American history, law, and politics, and sets the standard for all future discussions of the subject."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-273) and index.
Table of contents: title: Beef from the pork barrel? : introduction and overview; title: Private gain, public health, and public policy in antebellum New Orleans; title: Regulation prior to slaughterhouse; title: A centralized abattoir for New Orleans; title: The order of battle in the lower courts; title: Appeal, repeal, and a compromise; title: The Chase court; title: The arguments; title: Decision and dissents.