People v. Hall

People v. Hall
Seal of the Supreme Court of California
Supreme Court of California
Decided 1854
Citation(s)People v. Hall, 4 Cal 399 (1854).
Court membership
Judges sittingChief Justice Murray, Justices Solomon Heydenfeldt and Alexander Wells
Case opinions
Decision byMurray, joined by Heydenfeldt
DissentWells

The People of the State of California v. George W. Hall or People v. Hall, 4 Cal. 399, was an appealed murder case in the 1850s, in which the California Supreme Court established that Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants had no rights to testify against white citizens. The opinion was delivered in 1854 by Chief Justice Hugh Murray with the concurrence of Justice Solomon Heydenfeldt and the dissent of Justice Alexander Wells.[1]

The ruling effectively freed Hall, a white man, who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Ling Sing, a Chinese miner in Nevada County. Three Chinese witnesses had testified to the killing.[1][2]

The case has been described as "containing some of the most offensive racial rhetoric to be found in the annals of California appellate jurisprudence" and "the worst statutory interpretation case in history."[3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference cetel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference meloukhia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Traynor, Michael. "The Infamous Case of People v. Hall (1854)". California Supreme Court Historical Society Newsletter (Spring/Summer 2017): 2.