Smith v. Thompson

This is an action of trespass guare clausum fregit brought by the appellee against the appellant for breaking and entering the plaintiff’s burial lot, No. 19, in “ The Laboring Sons’ Cemetery.” The trespass complained of is, that the defendant in June, 1819, dug a grave in this lot and buried therein the corpse of a child, without the plaintiff’s permission or consent. The facts to be first stated are substantially as follows:

In 1839 an unincorporated voluntary association of colored men was formed under the name of “ The Beneficial Society of Laboring Sons of Frederick.” In 1851 or 1852,…