L. W. Currey, Inc.

(Pacific Railroad) Delmas, Delphin Michael. ARGUMENT OF D. M. DELMAS, COUNSEL FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN THE RAILROAD TAX CASES. DELIVERED IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, ON AUGUST 1, 2, 3, 1883 [cover title]. San Francisco: Law Journal print, W. T. Baggett & Co., 538 Sacramento St., [1883]. 21.2x14 cm (octavo), pp. [1] 2-115 [116: blank], publisher's gray wrappers printed in black. First edition. Delmas's argument on behalf of the people of California against the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads for nonpayment of taxes. Delphin M. Delmas (1844-1928) came to California at age ten, settling in the Santa Clara Valley. He became a famous California lawyer, a specialist in criminal law. He was a Democrat, fiercely defensive about "the rights of natural persons," who later went into politics and by 1904 was known as the "silver-tongued spellbinder of the Pacific Coast." This tax case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886 (Santa Clara County versus Southern Pacific Railroad). Future lawmakers misinterpreted the Court's decision -- that corporations should get the same protections under the Constitution as do human beings, that a private corporation was a natural person under the U.S. Constitution, sheltered by the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment -- an erroneous interpretation that affected later decisions due to the head note by Supreme Court reporter J. C. Bancroft Davis. Cowan (1933), pp. 164-165. Not in Rocq. Ex-Library copy with University of California stamps on the front cover and and first leaf. Bound in modern blue cloth with leather spine label, without the unprinted rear wrapper. A fine copy. (#175332).

Price: $350.00