A Common Law of Membership: Expulsion, Regulation, and Civil Society in the Early Republic.

The article presents an exploration into the legal and social dynamics of membership in voluntary societies during the Early Republic period of the United States. The political complexities of popular notions concerning civil society, citizenship, and the grounds for member expulsion are addressed. Several examples of legal cases and treatises concerning the subject in Pennsylvania are examined, with particular attention to the 1810 case of the St. Patrick's Benevolent Society between public figures William Duane and John Binns. The social theories of Jürgen Habermas are also cited to explore the paradigms of such social relations.