Hill v. Duke
Supreme Court of Alabama
Wiut of error to the Circuit Court of Benton county. Trial of the right of property to a certain slave, levied on by an execution in favor of Hill & Dill against one Adams, and claimed by Duke. At the trial, it was shown in evidence that Hill & Dill were creditors of Adams, in Georgia, previous to 1840, when the latter removed from thence to Alabama, where they sued him and recovered judgment. The execution on this judgment was levied on the slave in controversy.
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Wiut of error to the Circuit Court of Benton county. Trial of the right of property to a certain slave, levied on by an execution in favor of Hill & Dill against one Adams, and claimed by Duke. At the trial, it was shown in evidence that Hill & Dill were creditors of Adams, in Georgia, previous to 1840, when the latter removed from thence to Alabama, where they sued him and recovered judgment. The execution on this judgment was levied on the slave in controversy. Adams, in 1830, married the daughter of Duke, in Georgia, and when the new married couple went to house keeping, Duke sent a negro…
1Opinion of the CourtGoldth Waite, J.
We think the charge of the circuit court, so far as it asserts that the possession of the slaves by Adams, in Georgia, had nothing to do with the case, cannot be sustained.
Independent of our statute of frauds, the question before the jury was, whether Duke parted with the possession of the slave sent home with his daughter after her marriage, as a loan, or as a gift. In this aspect, there could be few facts of more weight than the long continued possession of the husband. It is certainly correct, that the presumption which arises when a father sends slaves home with a daughter upon or after…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Miller v. EatmanSupreme Court of Alabama · 1847
- Cole v. VarnerSupreme Court of Alabama · 1857