Martin v. Letty
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 18, Pet. Ea. APPEAL FROM GREEN CIRCUIT. Case State®. This suit was brought in January, 1853, by Charles Martin and Lucinda, his wife, and Chas.
Read the full summary
Case 18, Pet. Ea. APPEAL FROM GREEN CIRCUIT. Case State®. This suit was brought in January, 1853, by Charles Martin and Lucinda, his wife, and Chas. B. Gum and Sarah Jane, his wife, to recover a negro woman Letty, and her children and grand children, some sixteen in number, that had been set free by Andrew Barnett, by his last will and testament, against the administrator with the will annexed, and the negroes were made defendants also, in which the plaintiffs claim the negroes and their hire. The plaintiffs alledged that they are the only children of James and Cassandra Caldwell, who are…
1Opinion of the Court
Judge Sjmpson
delivered the opinion of the court.
The action in this case was properly brought against Barnett’s administrator, for the slaves claimed by the plaintiffs in their petition; and as the persons sued for by them set up a claim to freedom un*580der Barnett’s will, they were necessary parties, as this court has frequently held in analogous cases. The prayer that they might be subjected to servitude, &c., was unnecessary, for if, as asserted by the plaintiffs, they were slaves, they were still, in. contemplation of law, in a state of servitude; but as this prayer was mere surplusage, it…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Findley v. Patterson'sCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1841