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Bartemeyer was charged in Iowa of selling intoxicating liquor, a violation of Iowa law. The appeals
and supreme courts of Iowa upheld the conviction.
Bartemeyer argued to the Supreme Court that the law violated the Fourteenth
Amendment because Bartemeyer owned the liquor (property) before the Iowa law was passed. Thus
Bartemeyer argued the law deprived Bartemeyer of property without due process of law. The Iowa law was
passed (an 1860 revision of an 1851 law) before ratification of the Fourteenth
Amendment (1866).
The Court addressed two questions: Whether this would be a statute depriving Bartemeyer of his
property without due process of law; and secondly, if so, would a violation of the fourteenth amendment
have occurred.
Since the correct questions of law were not raised at lower levels of adjudication, the Court
affirmed the Iowa supreme court decision.
However, in an concurring opinion, Justice Bradley stated “…it has now become the fundamental law
of this country that life, liberty, and property (which include ‘the pursuit of happiness’) are
sacred rights…”
Full Text: Bartemeyer v. State of
Iowa, 85 U.S. 129 (1873) |