| Commonwealth v. Aves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court |
| Decided | 1836 |
| Cases cited | Somerset v Stewart[1] |
| Case history | |
| Prior action | Decision in favor of plaintiffs. |
| Subsequent action | Med Slater placed in the custody of a state-appointed guardian |
| Holding | |
| A citizen of any one of the United States where negro slavery is established by law, who comes into this State for any temporary purpose of business or pleasure, bringing a slave with him as a personal attendant, and stays some time, but does not acquire a domicil here, cannot restrain the slave of his liberty during his continuance here, and carry him out of this State against his consent. | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief judge | Lemuel Shaw |
| Case opinions | |
| Decision by | Lemuel Shaw |
Events leading to the American Civil War
- Northwest Ordinance
- Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
- End of Atlantic slave trade
- Missouri Compromise
- Tariff of 1828
- Nat Turner's Rebellion
- Nullification crisis
- End of slavery in British colonies
- Texas Revolution
- United States v. Crandall
- Gag rule
- Commonwealth v. Aves
- Murder of Elijah Lovejoy
- Burning of Pennsylvania Hall
- American Slavery As It Is
- United States v. The Amistad
- Prigg v. Pennsylvania
- Texas annexation
- Mexican–American War
- Wilmot Proviso
- Nashville Convention
- Compromise of 1850
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Recapture of Anthony Burns
- Kansas–Nebraska Act
- Ostend Manifesto
- Bleeding Kansas
- Caning of Charles Sumner
- Dred Scott v. Sandford
- The Impending Crisis of the South
- Panic of 1857
- Lincoln–Douglas debates
- Oberlin–Wellington Rescue
- John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
- Virginia v. John Brown
- 1860 presidential election
- Crittenden Compromise
- Secession of Southern states
- Peace Conference of 1861
- Corwin Amendment
- Battle of Fort Sumter
Commonwealth v. Aves, 35 Mass. 193 (1836), was a case in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of transportation of slaves to free states. In August 1836, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that slaves brought to Massachusetts "for any temporary purpose of business or pleasure" were entitled to freedom. The case was the most important legal victory for abolitionists in the 1830s and set a major precedent throughout the North.[2]