I cannot see any basis for punishing people/organizations today for actions that took place a century-and-a-half ago – and which were legal at the time.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are among 18 corporate defendants named in a slave-reparations case to be heard tomorrow in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The case is a consolidation of nine cases filed by African-Americans across America in 2002. Among the other defendants are Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Aetna Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., and Lloyds TSB Group.
Prior to 1865, when slavery was abolished, predecessor companies of J.P.Morgan, Bank of America, and of other banks extended loans to slave-owners using slaves as collateral for the loans, the consolidated lawsuit alleges.

The predecessor companies of major insurance companies, such as Aetna and Lloyds of London, wrote life-insurance policies on the lives of slaves with slaveowners as the beneficiaries, it says.

"Our goal is to secure restitution of ill-gotten gains to create a trust fund to benefit the descendants of slaves," the lead plaintiff in the case, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, said. The lawsuit was dismissed last year, but she's confident that it will get through on appeals. The case, according to Mrs. Farmer-Paellmann, is similar to the one brought by relatives of Holocaust victims, leading to a $1.25 billion settlement from Swiss banks.

"Slavery is a crime against humanity under international law," she added. "There's no statute of limitation."

Ah – but even accepting that last comment, was slavery recognized as a crime against humanity at the time, or did that designation come later? And what of the question of the legal status of slavery under the domestic laws of the United States? Do we not have a problem with the ex post facto imposition of law?

Throw the suit out – and the plaintiff’s and their attorneys with it.

Posted by: Greg at 08:57 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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