Hall v. Decuir

Hall v. Decuir
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 17, 1877 Decided January 14, 1878
Full case name	Hall v. Decuir
Citations	95 U.S. 485 (more)
Court membership
Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Nathan Clifford · Noah H. Swayne Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field William Strong · Joseph P. Bradley Ward Hunt · John M. Harlan
Case opinions
Majority	Waite, joined by Swayne, Miller, Strong, Bradley, Hunt, Harlan, Field
Concurrence	Clifford
Laws applied
Commerce Clause

Hall v. Decuir, 95 U.S. 485 (1878), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Hall, Josephine Decuir, a wealthy woman designated a Creole, sued for racial discrimination she experienced on a steamboat. She was traveling from New Orleans to Pointe Coupee Parish, where she owned a sugar plantation.

The Supreme Court held that the Louisiana statute authorizing a damages award to Decuir unconstitutionally interfered with interstate commerce. The majority opinion, by Morrison Waite, sought to avoid conflicting state laws with regard to interstate transit. Joseph W. Singer argues that Hall marked the beginning of a phase in Supreme Court jurisprudence that led to Plessy v. Ferguson.