Reports 348) was an 1805 legal case decided by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, presided over by Francis Dana.
Anna Gordon Martin had brought significant amounts of real estate into her marriage; through a complicated set of legal arrangements, her husband William had only a life interest in the property.
James Martin, as the couple's adult son, trained as a lawyer and practiced in Boston and the British West Indies.
The main issue in this case was whether Anna Gordon Martin had, during her life, possessed the legal ability to choose whether to stay in Massachusetts.
Could she, as a married woman, make her own choices about remaining a British citizen or declaring loyalty to the revolutionary government of Massachusetts?