The People of the State of California v. George W. Hall or People v. Hall, , was an appealed murder case in the 1850s, in which the California Supreme Court established that Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants had no rights to testify against white citizens. The opinion was delivered in 1854 by Chief Justice Hugh Murray with the concurrence of Justice Solomon Heydenfeldt and the dissent of Justice Alexander Wells. The ruling effectively freed Hall, a white man, who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Ling Sing, a Chinese miner in Nevada County. Three Chinese witnesses had testified to the killing. Background Accession of California to the United States With the conclusion of the Mexican–American War, the area of Alta California (which contains the modern U.S. state of California and some other states to its east) came under the control of the United States. Formally, the area was ceded to the United States as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1850, California formally joined the United States as the 31st state. Other parts of Alta California that became all or part of later U.S. states included Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. California Gold Rush and Chinese migration to California In early 1848, gold was discovered in California. This led to the California Gold Rush, where people from the United States, Mexico, and China arrived at California in search of gold. Although mining was the original attraction, many Chinese moved into the cities to provide services. Although their competition in mining was not liked by the whites in California, their presence in city services was initially highly appreciated. Chinese Labor Strike of 1867 In June 1867 a labor strike occurred in the Sierra Nevada mountains by Chinese workers building the Transcontinental Railroad. Because the workers had no formal rights to complain, they mounted one of the earliest instances of peaceful, Confucian-style collective action in a situation where no formal civil rights exist. Legal background Section 14 of the Act concerning Crime and Punishment, passed in 1850, stated that "No black or mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a white man." As written, the Section did not appear to apply to Chinese witnesses. Between 1849 and 1854, Chinese had made use of the California court systems, with varying degrees of success. For instance, Ah Toy,