Francois Xavier Martin
Encyclopedia
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
. Born in France, he immigrated to North Carolina before the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. He was appointed as Attorney General of the Territory of Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
; he also helped untangle layers of French and Spanish colonial law in the territory and subsequent state of Louisiana. His legal writing and reviews of cases was important to codification of Louisiana law in the 1820s.
Likely his most well-known case in his decade as Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court was that of the freedom suit of Sally Miller
Sally Miller (American slave)
Sally Miller, born Salomé Müller , was an American slave whose freedom suit in Louisiana was based on her claimed status as a free German immigrant and indentured servant. The case attracted wide attention and publicity because of the issue of "white" slavery. In Sally Miller v...
, in Miller v. Belmonti (1845 La). The court ruled to free Miller, a light-skinned 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 South
The South
-Geography:* Southern United States* South of England* South of France* South Italy* South Korea* Republic of Ireland* South Province * Global South, the developing nations of the world-Other uses:* The South , by Victor Erice...
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, it reinstated the court, but did not reappoint Martin or his five jurist colleagues.
Early life and career
Martin was born in Marseilles, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, of Provençal
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
descent. In 1780 as a young man he went to the French colony of Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Before the close of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Martin immigrated to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. In New Bern
New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
, he taught French and learned English, and set up as a printer. After "reading the law" at an established firm, he was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1789. He published various legal books, and edited Acts of the North Carolina Assembly from 1715 to 1803 (2nd ed., 1809).
Political career
Martin was elected as a member of the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly, where he served 1806-1807.In 1809 he was appointed Attorney General of the large Territory of Orleans, recently acquired by the United States under the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
. The law was in a chaotic condition there, as French law had preceded Spain's taking over the territory in 1763 and imposing their code in some respects. For instance, although the Spanish governor O'Reilly
O'Reilly
O'Reilly is the Anglicised form of the Gaelic Ó Raghallaigh. It is also the patronymic form of the Irish name Reilly . It is commonly found throughout Ireland, with the greatest concentration of the surname found in County Cavan followed by Longford, Meath, Westmeath, Fermanagh and Monaghan, and...
had issued a proclamation in 1769 banning Indian slavery, the protests from French slaveholders convinced him to let them retain slaves of Indian descent while the Crown reviewed the policy. By the time of the US annexation, the status of slaves of mixed African and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
descent was still unsettled.
The US began to try to create laws consistent with its own tradition, and in 1808 the Digest of the Civil Laws was adopted by the state legislature. It was an adaptation by James Brown
James Brown (Senator)
James Brown was a lawyer, U.S. Senator from Louisiana and Minister to France. He was the brother of John Brown, the cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge and Francis Preston, the brother-in-law of Henry Clay, the uncle of James Brown Clay, Henry Clay, Jr., John Morrison Clay, the great...
and Louis Moreau de Lislet of the code of Napoleon
Napoleonic code
The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
, which repealed the Spanish fueros, partidas, recompilationes, and laws of the Indies as they conflicted with its provisions.
In 1811 and 1813, Martin published reports of cases decided by the superior court of the Territory of Orleans.
Attorney General and supreme court judge
In February 1813, Martin was appointed Attorney General by the elected governor of the newly established state of LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, serving until 1815. In 1816 he published two volumes, one in French and one in English, of A General Digest of the Acts of Legislatures of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the State of Louisiana. For the period until 1830, he regularly wrote and published reports of the decisions of the state supreme court.
Respected for his learning, Martin was appointed presiding judge of the State Supreme Court, serving a decade (1836-1846) in this position.
In 1845, Martin and his court issued the final ruling in the widely publicized case of Miller v. Belmonti (1845 La), which was a freedom suit initiated by supporters of Sally Miller
Sally Miller (American slave)
Sally Miller, born Salomé Müller , was an American slave whose freedom suit in Louisiana was based on her claimed status as a free German immigrant and indentured servant. The case attracted wide attention and publicity because of the issue of "white" slavery. In Sally Miller v...
. 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.
Members of the German-American community believed that Sally Miller was Müller. They arranged for an attorney to file a freedom suit 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 the justices of the supreme court ruled that she was free. Their decision in Miller v. Belmonti (1845 La) included the following statement:
"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."
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 abolitionist movement was then viewed as a threat to the culture and cotton economy of the South.
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 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.
That year he died in New Orleans in December 1846. His holographic will
Holographic will
A holographic will is a will and testament that has been entirely handwritten and signed by the testator. Normally, a will must be signed by witnesses attesting to the validity of the testator's signature and intent, but in many jurisdictions, holographic wills that have not been witnessed are...
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. It held that the will was void as a legal and physical impossibility because of Martin's blindness, or as being an attempted fraud on the state. Under it the state would not receive the customary 10% estate tax if the property went to the heirs of Martin in France.
Published works
- Edited Acts of the North Carolina Assembly from 1715 to 1803 (2nd ed., 1809).
- Translated in English, Robert J. Pothier's On Obligations (1802)
- A General Digest of the Acts of Legislatures of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the State of Louisiana (1816), published both French and English versions
- Wrote The History of Louisiana from the Earliest Period (2 vols. 1827-1829)
- Wrote The History of North Carolina (2 vols., 1829)
Legacy and honors
- Martin earned the name "Father of Louisiana Jurisprudence". His work was the basis of that of [Edward Livingston]], Pierre DerbignyPierre DerbignyPierre Augustin Charles Bourguignon Derbigny was the sixth Governor of Louisiana. Born in 1769, at Laon near Lille, France, the eldest son of Augustin Bourguignon d'Herbigny who was President of the Directoire de l'Aisne and Mayor of Laon, and Louise Angelique Blondela.Derbigny studied law at...
and Louis Moreau de Liset, who wrote the Louisiana codification of 1821-1826. - Martin's home in the French QuarterFrench QuarterThe French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
still stands, adapted for use as "The Cornstalk Hotel", named after the design of a wrought iron fence added by a later owner.
External links
- "Early 1800s home of Francoise-Xavier Martin is now a hotel", The Cornstalk Hotel official website
- Image of Francois Martin