Home > Great American Court Cases > Bailey v. Alabama

Legal Citation: 219 U.S. 219 (1911)

Plaintiff
Alonzo Bailey

Defendant
State of Alabama

Plaintiff Claim
Alabama's peonage law was unconstitutional because the Thirteenth Amendment provided protection against involuntary servitude. To compel servitude in liquidation of a debt restricted personal rights; involuntary servitude applied in situations other than slavery.

Chief Lawyers for Plaintiff
Edward S. Watts, Fred S. Ball, Daniel W. Troy

Chief Defense Lawyers
Alexander M. Garber, Thomas W. Martin

Justices for the Court
William Rufus Day, John Marshall Harlan I, Charles Evans Hughes (writing for the Court), Joseph McKenna, William Henry Moody, Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Horace Harmon Lurton (Willis Van Devanter not yet appointed)

Place
Washington,...