Peter v. Hargrave
Supreme Court of Virginia
Peter and others filed their bill in the Circuit Court of Dinwiddie against the administrator with the will annexed and the other children of James Hargrave deceased, to recover their freedom, which they claimed under the will of said Hargrave. When the cause came on to be heard the Court made a decree establishing their right to freedom. They then asked for a decree for the profits of their labour since the death of their testator.
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Peter and others filed their bill in the Circuit Court of Dinwiddie against the administrator with the will annexed and the other children of James Hargrave deceased, to recover their freedom, which they claimed under the will of said Hargrave. When the cause came on to be heard the Court made a decree establishing their right to freedom. They then asked for a decree for the profits of their labour since the death of their testator. This decree was asked on the ground that the defendants had detained them in slavery with a full knowledge of their right to be free; and had defended and…
1Opinion of the Court
Baldwin, J. '
In this case the appellants, who have i r j recovered their freedom by a decree in their favour, ask a further decree for the profits of their labour, while they were held in slavery. It is not pretended that they stand upon any higher ground than if they had recovered their freedom and asserted their claim for profits in a Court of Law. Equity, in regard to the incidental as well as the principal demand, must follow the law, and if no such profits could be recovered at law, none can be had in equity. We must examine the case therefore upon the principles applicable to legal…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Green v. BiddleSupreme Court of the United States · 1823
- Shaw v. ClementsCourt of Appeals of Virginia · 1798
3Cited by8 opinions
- Hall v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
- Osborne v. Taylor's adm'rSupreme Court of Virginia · 1855
- Hall v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
- Osborne v. Taylor's Adm'rSupreme Court of Virginia · 1855
- Osborne v. Taylor's Adm'rSupreme Court of Virginia · 1855
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