Palfrey v. Rivas

The petition charges that the defendarit having arrested the plaintiff’s runaway slave, instead of pursuing the means which the law directs, in order to secure him, kept him at ‘ on his own plantation for fourteen or fifteen days; after which the slave escaped, and has never been beard of since. There was judgment for the defendant, and the plaintiff appealed.

From the statement of facts, which consists of the depositions of a number of witnesses ; it appears that the defendant arrested the plaintiff’s slave on a Sunday, secured him in strong iron fetters and informed the plaintiff of the…