Howard v. Samples

John Howard, an infant boy of color, seeks the reversal of a judgment rendered against him, in an action of trespass against John Samples, on an issue upon a plea that he (Howard) is a slave.

The plaintiff derives his claim to freedom from a conveyance of his mother and himself from their master, John Howard, now dead, to his son, James P. Howard, by a deed executed on the 23d of January, 1830, and recorded, on proper proof, during the same month; and from a deed of manumission executed by James P. Howard, in open Court, on the 14th of February, 1831, emancipating him (the plaintiff,) at the…