Does any one actually know the ruling for Sturges v. Crowninshield (The Supreme Court Case)?

Question

Yeah, I was just wondering if anyone actually knows who the Supreme Court ruled for. I looked at a couple places on the internet, but it says something like "Congress won" or something like that. Can someone tell me whether they ruled for Sturges or Crowninshield or even better explain it? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The question before the Supreme Court was whether the state of New York had the power to pass a law to allow a bankrupt debtor to discharge a contractual debt in bankruptcy. The Court said No. The ruling then was that to do so would impair the right of contract guaranteed by the US Constitution, and so the law was unconstitutional.

Crowninshield was the debtor (borrower), Sturges the lender. So Sturges won, though that isnt precisely what the Court was ruling on. It was ruling on the constitutionality of the NY law.

Answer 2

Well, that's not quite what happened.... Although Sturges may have been percieved to have won it was really a question of whether NY state law was constitutional. You can get the case and read it if you like. Here is the proper citation for it:

Sturges v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. 122 (1819)

You should note that this decision is no longer good law!

Answer 3

I wonder why it took till 2003 for such a reasonable law to be passed. The government has no place in the sex lives between consenting adults.