The Unjust Judge: A Memorial of Roger Brooke Taney, Late Chief Justice

1865. New York: Baker & Godwin, Printers, 1865.. New York: Baker & Godwin, Printers, 1865. "Next to Pontius Pilate, Perhaps the Worst That Ever Occupied the Seat of Judgment" [Taney, Roger Brooke (1777-1864)]. The Unjust Judge. A Memorial of Roger Brooke Taney, Late Chief Justice of the United States. New York: Baker & Godwin, Printers, 1865. 68 pp. Octavo (9" x 5-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in printed wrappers. Light soiling to exterior, a few small chips and minor tears to wrappers, moderate toning to interior, very light foxing to a few leaves, fold lines to lower outside corners of first few leaves. Pamphlet housed in handsome custom 9-1/4" x 6" clamshell box, quarter morocco over marble, gilt-edged raised bands and lettering piece to spine. $1,500. * Only edition. Taney held many state and federal political and legal positions and became chief justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1836, a post he held until his death in 1864. He is best known as the author of the majority opinion in the notorious Dred Scott decision (1857), which ruled that a slave who had resided in a free state or territory was not entitled to his freedom and that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States. It also invalidated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery west of Missouri and north of latitude 36? 30'. As this pamphlet makes clear, Taney was reviled by many of his contemporaries for the Dred Scott decision despite the respect he had previously accrued during his long career. The anonymous author reviews Taney's career in depth and points out that Taney had previously held antislavery views but proved "false to the liberal principles he had eulogized, and to a free Constitution he had sworn to support." The work also argues that slavery is incompatible with both divine law and the founding principles and documents of the United States. It is scarce. OCLC locates 4 copies, 1 in a law library (University of Notre Dame). We located additional copies at Harvard Law School and University of Chicago.