Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 1964
ISSN
0006-8047
Publisher
Boston University School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
On June 17, 1960, twelve Negro college students entered a restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland. The manager approached and informed them of the restaurant's policy not to serve Negroes. Disregarding the manager, the young men sat down at tables and waited for service. The manager again asked them to leave, but they remained quietly seated. A police officer was summoned and, in his presence, the manager requested the Negroes to leave. They refused to answer and remained in their places. Thereupon they were arrested and indicted under a Maryland statute which, as interpreted by the Maryland Court of Appeals, made it a misdemeanor for one to remain on another's premises after having been directed to leave. During the non-jury trial in Baltimore Criminal Court, the defendants asserted constitutional defenses, invoking the fourteenth amendment's due process and equal protection clauses. These defenses were rejected by the trial court, and the Negro students were convicted of criminal trespass.The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed, rejecting the constitutional arguments.
Recommended Citation
Neil S. Hecht,
From Seisin to Sit-In: Evolving Property Concepts
,
44
Boston University Law Review
435
(1964).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1574
