Smith v. Wiggins
Supreme Court of Alabama
This was an action of detinue for a slave, tried before Judge Taylor, in Franklin Circuit Court, at September term, 1828, in which W. W. Wiggins was plaintiff, and J. Smith was defendant. The plaintiff recovered the slave, or his value, which was fixed at $450, and $218 for the detention.
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This was an action of detinue for a slave, tried before Judge Taylor, in Franklin Circuit Court, at September term, 1828, in which W. W. Wiggins was plaintiff, and J. Smith was defendant. The plaintiff recovered the slave, or his value, which was fixed at $450, and $218 for the detention. The errors assigned by Smith in this Court, arise on a of exceptions taken by him in the Court below, by which it appeared that Wiggins proved that the negro in controversy was formerly the property of his father, and that he, the cider Wiggins, and James Smith, the father the defendant below, agreed that…
1Opinion of the Court
By JUDGE SAFFOLD.
In examining the accuracy of the opinions of the Circuit Court in the admissions of evidence, and the instructions to the jury, given and refused, it may be remarked, as to the competency of the cider Wiggins, who, it may be inferred, gave evidence for his son, that though the former had been the prior owner of the slave, and both parties claimed to have derived title through him, yet in this contest, he does not appear to have had any pecuniary interest; he could neither gain nor lose by the event of the suit. The judgment could not in any event be used as evidence for himj…
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