Fletcher vs Peck

Question 1

How did this case extend the power of JR?

Answer 1

Because it now applied to state as well as federal law

Question 2

Describe the actual case

Answer 2

In 1795 that state legislature in Georgia sold 35 million acres of state land for just 1.5 cents per acre to speculators. It soon became apparent that a number of the state legislators had been bribed. In 1796, a new state legislature repealed the old grant. John Peck sold on the land that was part of the grant to Robert Fletcher for $3,000. When Fletcher released that he had unknowingly bought land voided by state law, he sued Peck. The circuit court for Massachusets ruled in favour of Peck, so Fletcher took it to the SC

Question 3

What was the ruling in the SC?

Answer 3

While concluding that the original fraud behind the grants had been deplorable, it rejected Fletcher’s arguement that sovereign power lay with the state of Georgia to repeal the law, arguing that the 1796 legislature’s repeal of the 1795 grant had been unconstitutional. Fletcher’s case was struck down as well as Georgia’s law repealing the grants