Constitution

Article IV, Section 2: Privileges and Immunities, Extradition and Fugitives

Section 2 bars states from discriminating against citizens of other states, requires return of fugitives from justice, and once covered fugitive slaves.

4Conservative Editors · Published November 8, 2026

The text

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Note: The third paragraph (Clause 3, on persons held to service or labour) was superseded by the 13th amendment.

In plain English

Clause 1: Privileges and Immunities. Citizens of each state are entitled to "all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." A state may not treat visitors from other states as second-class citizens in basic matters such as pursuing a livelihood, holding property and access to courts. This is the "comity" clause. It is distinct from the 14th Amendment's separate clause on the privileges or immunities of United States citizenship.

Clause 2: extradition. A person charged with a crime in one state who flees to another must be returned on demand of the governor of the first state.

Clause 3: fugitive slaves. This clause required return of enslaved persons who escaped to another state. It was repealed in effect by the 13th Amendment, which the National Archives notes superseded this portion.

The first clause is a nondiscrimination rule among the states. The second is the basis of interstate extradition.

What the Founders said

The comity clause descends from Article IV of the Articles of Confederation, which gave the "free inhabitants" of each state "all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states." The Constitution simplified the text.

Madison discussed the clause in Federalist No. 42 as part of the Constitution's effort to secure the rights of citizens as they moved from state to state, replacing the looser wording of the Articles.

The fugitive-slave clause is a stain on the document; it was added at the Convention at the insistence of delegates from the lower South. Madison's notes record that the original draft's explicit word "slaves" was replaced by the phrase "person held to Service or Labour," which allowed some delegates to avoid writing the word "slave" into the Constitution.

How the courts have read it

  • Corfield v. Coryell (1823): Justice Washington, riding circuit, described the protected privileges as those "fundamental" and belonging to citizens of all free governments.
  • Paul v. Virginia (1869): a state may exclude out-of-state insurance corporations, as corporations are not "citizens."
  • Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842): Congress had exclusive power over fugitive slaves, and state personal liberty laws that obstructed recovery were invalid.
  • Kentucky v. Dennison (1861): federal courts cannot compel a governor to extradite; overruled by Puerto Rico v. Branstad (1987), which held the duty enforceable.
  • Toomer v. Witsell (1948): a state may not charge nonresident commercial fishermen a much higher license fee without a substantial reason.
  • Saenz v. Roe (1999): the right to travel includes the right of a newly arrived citizen to be treated like other residents.

Why it matters now

The Privileges and Immunities Clause is the constitutional reason a Texan may work in Oklahoma and a Floridian may sue in Georgia without being treated as a stranger. It is a modest clause with an important idea: a union means that citizens of every state are, in basic matters, equal under every state's law.

That idea has a modern use. State licensing, tax and regulatory laws can be written to favor residents over newcomers. The clause is not a mandate for sameness, but a check on protectionism. It is among the original constitutional guarantees of an open national market.

The third clause is a reminder of the compromise at the Founding. A fair reading of the document records it as it is: an accommodation of slavery that the 13th Amendment ended. Conservatives who defend the Constitution do not have to defend every clause of its original text. They can honor the amendment process that corrected it.

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