Balzac v. Porto Rico
E388980
Balzac v. Porto Rico is a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held certain constitutional rights, including the right to a jury trial, do not automatically apply in unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Balzac v. Porto Rico canonical | 10 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3799340 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: Balzac v. Porto Rico Context triple: [Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution, citedInCase, Balzac v. Porto Rico]
-
A.
The Prize Cases
The Prize Cases were a landmark 1863 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld President Abraham Lincoln’s authority to blockade Confederate ports without a formal declaration of war, expanding the scope of executive war powers.
-
B.
De Canas v. Bica
De Canas v. Bica is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld a California law regulating the employment of unauthorized immigrants, holding that not all state regulations touching on immigration are preempted by federal law.
-
C.
United States v. Kagama
United States v. Kagama is an 1886 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal authority over crimes committed by Native Americans on reservations, reinforcing congressional power in Indian affairs.
-
D.
The Paquete Habana
The Paquete Habana is a landmark 1900 U.S. Supreme Court case that established that customary international law is part of U.S. law, holding that small coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture as prizes of war.
-
E.
Trial of the Twenty-One
The Trial of the Twenty-One was a 1938 Soviet show trial in Moscow in which prominent Old Bolsheviks and party leaders were accused of treason and executed, marking one of the most infamous episodes of Stalin’s Great Purge.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: Balzac v. Porto Rico Target entity description: Balzac v. Porto Rico is a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held certain constitutional rights, including the right to a jury trial, do not automatically apply in unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico.
-
A.
The Prize Cases
The Prize Cases were a landmark 1863 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld President Abraham Lincoln’s authority to blockade Confederate ports without a formal declaration of war, expanding the scope of executive war powers.
-
B.
De Canas v. Bica
De Canas v. Bica is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld a California law regulating the employment of unauthorized immigrants, holding that not all state regulations touching on immigration are preempted by federal law.
-
C.
United States v. Kagama
United States v. Kagama is an 1886 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld federal authority over crimes committed by Native Americans on reservations, reinforcing congressional power in Indian affairs.
-
D.
The Paquete Habana
The Paquete Habana is a landmark 1900 U.S. Supreme Court case that established that customary international law is part of U.S. law, holding that small coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture as prizes of war.
-
E.
Trial of the Twenty-One
The Trial of the Twenty-One was a 1938 Soviet show trial in Moscow in which prominent Old Bolsheviks and party leaders were accused of treason and executed, marking one of the most infamous episodes of Stalin’s Great Purge.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Insular Cases decision
ⓘ
United States Supreme Court case ⓘ federal courts case ⓘ |
| appliesDoctrine |
Insular Cases
ⓘ
surface form:
Insular Cases doctrine
|
| areaOfLaw |
United States constitutional law
ⓘ
United States territorial law ⓘ criminal procedure in U.S. territories ⓘ |
| authorOfMajorityOpinion |
President William Howard Taft
ⓘ
surface form:
William Howard Taft
|
| ChiefJusticeAtDecision |
President William Howard Taft
ⓘ
surface form:
William Howard Taft
|
| citation | 258 U.S. 298 ⓘ |
| clarifies | distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories ⓘ |
| concerns |
application of the United States Constitution in unincorporated territories
ⓘ
right to trial by jury ⓘ status of Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory ⓘ |
| constitutionalProvisionInterpreted |
Article III of the United States Constitution
ⓘ
Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution ⓘ
surface form:
Article IV Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution
U.S. Constitution, Sixth Amendment ⓘ
surface form:
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
|
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1922-04-10 ⓘ |
| decisionType | unanimous decision ⓘ |
| fullCaseName | Balzac v. Porto Rico self-link ⓘ |
| hasJurisdiction | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| holding |
Not all provisions of the United States Constitution apply ex proprio vigore to unincorporated territories
ⓘ
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States for constitutional purposes ⓘ The Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial in criminal prosecutions does not automatically apply in unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico ⓘ |
| impact |
limited the automatic extension of certain constitutional rights to residents of unincorporated territories
ⓘ
reinforced classification of Puerto Rico as unincorporated for constitutional purposes ⓘ |
| involves | criminal libel prosecution ⓘ |
| languageOfProceedings | English ⓘ |
| legalEffect | binding precedent on federal courts regarding constitutional rights in unincorporated territories ⓘ |
| legalSubject |
constitutional law
ⓘ
criminal procedure ⓘ territorial law ⓘ |
| locationOfFacts | Puerto Rico ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy |
President William Howard Taft
ⓘ
surface form:
William Howard Taft
|
| pageInUnitedStatesReports | 298 ⓘ |
| party |
Honoré de Balzac
ⓘ
surface form:
Balzac
Puerto Rico ⓘ
surface form:
Porto Rico
|
| relatedCase |
Dorr v. United States
ⓘ
Downes v. Bidwell ⓘ Hawaii v. Mankichi ⓘ Rassmussen v. United States ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine | territorial incorporation doctrine ⓘ |
| result | conviction in Puerto Rican court affirmed ⓘ |
| territory | Puerto Rico ⓘ |
| territoryStatusConsidered | unincorporated territory ⓘ |
| volumeInUnitedStatesReports | 258 ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1922 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: Balzac v. Porto Rico Description of subject: Balzac v. Porto Rico is a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held certain constitutional rights, including the right to a jury trial, do not automatically apply in unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.