Dewees v. Morgan
Supreme Court of Louisiana
THIS was an action brought to recover the price of a negro man sold, with his wife and children, to the plaintiff, at public auction, by the defendant, consignee of a cargo of negroes. The petition alleged that the negro man, who died ten or twelve days after the sale, had the seeds of the fatal disease in him before, and therefore the plaintiff was entitled to recover the consideration money.
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THIS was an action brought to recover the price of a negro man sold, with his wife and children, to the plaintiff, at public auction, by the defendant, consignee of a cargo of negroes. The petition alleged that the negro man, who died ten or twelve days after the sale, had the seeds of the fatal disease in him before, and therefore the plaintiff was entitled to recover the consideration money. It appeared in evidence that the slave had been slightly unwell a few days before the sale, tho’ the physician who attended him did not consider him, at the time, as dangerously ill; but the doctor,…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Lewis J.
alone, In this case *5there is certainly more of hardship than difficulty. The loss cannot be divided and it seems hard that either party should sustain it entire. But as it must be done by one of the parties only, the hardship will be less if it fall on the vendor. The vendor by restoring the price of the slave will be no poorer than if he had not sold him; for in all human probability, the slave would have died at the time he did, if no sale had been made. The Court, however, is to decide upon the law, not upon the hardship of the case.
The doctrine upon the sale of…
2Cited by2 opinions
- In Re Certification for Additional JudgesSupreme Court of Florida · 2003
- McIlvaine v. LesseeSupreme Court of the United States · 1805