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5 S.C.L. 147

Denton v. English

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Decided December 1, 1814

Supreme Court of South Carolina · decided 1814-12-01

The action was trover for sundry negro slaves, tried in Rich-land district, before Brevard, J., October, 1811. Both parties claimed under titles derived .from Wm. Fitzpatrick, deceased, who, some time before his death, became insane. It appeared in evidence, that Wm. Fitzpatrick had parted from his wife, and lived many years separate from her.

Decided 1814-12-01

¶1The majority of the court,

Giiimke, Bay,' and Smith,

¶2were of opinion that the jury had been misdirected, and, therefore, granted a new trial. They construed the A. A. 1795, as forbidding the granting or giving more than a certain proportion of his estate to a woman with whom a man is living in adultery, but allowing him to give the proportion mentioned in the act, even as the price of prostitution, or future immoral intercourse.

Judge Colcock,

¶3on the contrary, was of opinion, that the jury had been correctly instructed. That the A. A. was not intended to alter the common law as to deeds or agreements, made contra bonos mores; and that the construction given to the act by his brethren, would have a tendency to encourage lewdness and immorality. ^

¶4New trial granted.

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