Old Court – New Court controversy

A debt relief movement began in the state, and pro-relief candidates won majorities in the General Assembly in 1820.

As the economic situation in the state improved in the second half of the 1820s, the Old Court supporters regained control of both houses of the General Assembly.

In Kentucky, rapid population growth and strong demand for the state's goods led to land speculation becoming a popular enterprise.

[5] In December 1822, the party became so dissatisfied with the sound money practices of the Bank of Kentucky that they revoked its charter.

In 1822, Bourbon County circuit court judge James Clark ruled in the case of Williams v. Blair that the replevin law violated the state and federal constitutions.

This ruling was so unpopular with the Relief Party that they attempted to remove him from office, but the 59–35 vote fell just short of the needed two-thirds majority.

Fayette County circuit court judge Francis P. Blair issued a similar ruling in the case of Lapsley v.

[8] The Assembly passed resolutions against all three justices on the Court of Appeals, but did not possess the two-thirds majority to remove them.

[6] Governor John Adair, a Relief Party supporter, urged the resistance, framing the issue as the court impeding the right of the people to self-govern.

[8] Frustrated by their defeats in the judiciary, the Relief Party turned its attention to the gubernatorial election of 1824, where they backed General Joseph Desha.

During the debate, Governor Desha personally lobbied legislators to support the measure, a blatant violation of the rules of the House.

[8] Francis Preston Blair, the New Court clerk, assembled a group that broke into Sneed's office and took what records they could find.

[11] In December, the Assembly's committee concluded that the Old Court justices were "constitutional judges" and consequently, the legislature did not have power to abolish their positions.

[11] Instead, on December 29, 1826, the General Assembly repealed the reorganization act, and overrode Governor Desha's veto of the measure.

The General Assembly decided to speed the reconciliation of the two sides of the controversy by naming New Court partisan George Bibb as Boyle's replacement.

[9] In the April 1829 case of Hildreth's Heirs v. McIntire's Devisees,[15] the reconstituted Court of Appeals declared all of these decisions void.

[11] In 1935, in Smith v. Overstreet's Adm'r,[16] the court formally ruled that the decisions were not part of the common law of Kentucky.