May, 2008 Case of the Month: In re Hall, 50 Conn. 131 (1882)

            126 years ago this May, the Connecticut Supreme Court became the first court in the country to hold that a woman was qualified to be admitted to the bar when it held that Mary Hall qualified as a “person” under the statute governing the admission of lawyers to practice in this State.  Writing for the court, Chief Justice Park eloquently expressed the foundation upon which much civil rights jurisprudence later would be based:

            We are not to forget that all statutes are to be construed, as far as possible, in favor of equality of rights.  All restrictions upon human liberty, all claims for special privileges, are to be regarded as having the presumption of law against them, and as standing upon their defense, and can be sustained, if at all by valid legislation, only by the clear expression or clear implication of the law.

In re Hall, 50 Conn. at 137. 

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