Nailor v. Williams
Supreme Court of the United States
Appeal from tbe Supreme Court for the District of Columbia, the case being this: Several negroes had been convicted in Virginia of heinous crimes and sentenced to death; but being reprieved by the governor of Virginia, were sold by that State to two persons, Williams and Davis, upon Williams’s giving bond to transport them beyond the limits of the United States. . Williams did not so transport them, but took them to Louisiana, and was there indicted, convicted, and sentenced…
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Appeal from tbe Supreme Court for the District of Columbia, the case being this: Several negroes had been convicted in Virginia of heinous crimes and sentenced to death; but being reprieved by the governor of Virginia, were sold by that State to two persons, Williams and Davis, upon Williams’s giving bond to transport them beyond the limits of the United States. . Williams did not so transport them, but took them to Louisiana, and was there indicted, convicted, and sentenced to a heavy fine, under a statute of Louisiana, for bringing negroes convicted of crimes into that State. The negroes…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
If a question is' asked of a witness on the stand, the answer to which is pertinent and legal testimony, and the court refuses to permit the ..witness to answer, this is error which a revising court will correct, because the injury to the party consists in the refusal of the court to permit the answer to be given, and he can do nothing more to prove the wrong done him than to show that he as.ked a legal question, the answer to which, by ¡the action of the court, was denied him.
But where a question is asked wdiich is illegal only because it may elicit improper testimony, and the court permits…
2Cited by17 opinions
- Alford v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1931
- Phœnix Insurance v. MoogSupreme Court of Alabama · 1884
- Lindsey v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1942
- Eagle & Phœnix Manufacturing Co. v. GibsonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1878
- United States v. Herbert OttCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1973
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