Bailey v. Alabama
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| Bailey v. Alabama | |||||||||||||
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| Submitted November 12, 1908 Decided December 21, 1908 |
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| Holding | |||||||||||||
| Court membership | |||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Melville Fuller Associate Justices: John Marshall Harlan, David Josiah Brewer, Edward Douglass White, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Joseph McKenna, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., William R. Day, William Henry Moody |
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| Case opinions | |||||||||||||
| Majority by: Holmes Joined by: Fuller, Brewer, White, Peckham, McKenna, Moody Dissent by: Harlan Dissent by: Day |
Bailey v. Alabama, , was a United States Supreme Court case which overturned the peonage laws of Alabama. The Alonzo Bailey case is regarded as being the most important case of its kind after the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
Alonzo Bailey was an African American from Alabama who agreed to work for one year at $12 per month. He received an advance of $15. After working for a little over a month he stopped work, but did not refund any money. According to Alabama law such refusal to work and refund the money was prima facie evidence of intent to defraud.
The Supreme Court found that holding a person criminally liable for taking money for work not performed was akin to indentured servitude, outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, insofar as it required that person to work rather than be found guilty of a crime. The importance of the case is due to the fact that the peonage laws of the State of Alabama were found to be unconstitutional.
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