Hendrik Hartog (Princeton): Torts across the Hudson, or Arson and the Dilemmas of Gradual Emancipation

In 1815, the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, one of the first fire insurance companies in the new nation, agreed to insure a large house (or hotel) on the Jersey shore for 10,000 dollars. The insurance policy had been purchased by John Quay, a judge and a prominent political figure in Monmouth County, New Jersey. A few weeks later the structure mysteriously burned to the ground. The question of who set the fire—and why— became the subject of a legal trial in New York City. The case hinged on the question of who was a slave vs. who was free. The legal arguments in the case offered “one of the most splendid exhibitions of talent, on both sides, perhaps ever witnessed.”

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