Snipes v. Remoussin

Decided January 15, 1806

Supreme Court of South Carolina · decided 1806-01-15

Trover for certain negroes, which plain» tiff claimed as formerly loaned to his son Henry, whose widow the defendant married. The defendant claimed the negroes as having been given to the son, and not lent. Verdict for'the plaintiff, contrary to the opinion of Bay, J., before whom the cause was tried. It was proved that Henry Snipes had possession of the negroes ten years, and died possessed of them.

Decided 1806-01-15

¶1The court being diyided, the decision was postponed until 7th January, 1806, when the opinion of Grimke, Bat, and Brevard, the only judges who heard the argument, was given against the motion. The substance of the opinion was, that although verdicts contrary to evidence, or where there is no evidence to support them, have been set aside and new trials granted, yet where there is a contrariety of evidence on both sides, the court will not grant a new trial, even if they should think the weight of evdence against the verdict, unless it should appear to be greatly and manifestly so; and that the credibility of witnesses is a matter almost exclusively within the province of the jury.