Ben Lowenthal grew up on Maui. He earned his undergraduate degree studying journalism at San Francisco State University and his law degree at the University of Kansas. He is a deputy public defender on Maui practicing criminal defense in trial and appellate courts. He also runs “Hawaii Legal News,” a blog covering Hawaii appellate courts. The author's opinions are his own and don't necessarily reflect those of Civil Beat. You can reach him at [email protected].
When did slavery end? The answer is elusive.
In Hawaii, for example, the constitution of 1852 included a clause abolishing slavery so any slave entering the kingdom was free as a matter of law. On top of that, slaveowners could not “enjoy any civil or political rights in this realm.” The constitution went into effect nearly a decade before the American Civil War.
But did that end slavery here? The constitution is one thing, but the Masters and Servants Act of 1850 allowed sugar companies to collude with the government and bringing in laborers through a questionable contract system.
Workers from China, Japan, Korea, Portugal and the Philippines immigrated here under government contract and were then assigned — without their say — to work for the private companies in the sugarcane fields and plantations throughout the islands.
Runaway workers were hunted down by the police or sheriffs. Then the law empowered district court judges to extend their contracts for absconding. If they refused to work, they were...
A post claiming to list all the actions taken by the Home Minister in Kashmir in the last 10 days is going viral on social media. The posts list out 18 points, which include claims regarding citiz...