FAITS

Par acte passé à Montréal le 25 Aout 1797, devant Mtre Gray et son confrère Notaires, les Demandeurs reconnaissent “to have bargained, sold, assigned, transfered and made ‘ over, &e., to the Defendant ‘ accepting thereof for himself, & his heirs and assigns, a certain Negro-man named Manuel, “ of or about the age of 33 years, for and during his natural & Jife.”

Prix £36 0.

Le même jour, et devant les mêmes Notaires, est passé un autre acte intitulé “ Articles of servitude between a negro- “ man named Manuel and Thomas J. Sullivan.” Il y est dit que Manuel ‘ of his own free and voluntary will” s’engage comme ‘ servant ” au dit Sullivan pour l’espace de cinq ans à compter de la date de Pacte ; et Sullivan s’oblige de le loger, vêtir et nourrir pendant ce temps.

L’acte contient de plus la clause suivante : Whereas the

man, named Manuel, of and from J. G. Turner and his wife, by deed of sale bearing even date with these presents ; in consideration whereof and of the premises it is further agreed by and between the said parties to these presents, that provided the said Negro-man named Manuel shall truly and faithfully do and perform the covenants and clauses hereinbefore reserved and contained, the said Ths. J. Sullivan doth hereby and for himself, his heirs and assigns, covenant, promise and agree, at the expiration of the aforesaid term of five years to emancipate and set at Liberty by due form of law his said servant Manuel, otherwise he is to be considered and to remain the property of him the said Ths. J. Sullivan, his heirs and assigns, the same to all intents and purposes as if this agreement had “ never been made.” L'action était portée pour le paiement de £30 15 2 balance du prix de vente de ce Nègre, et les deux actes cidessus sont relatés dans la “ Déclaration.”

Le Défendeur plaida ‘ that the sale was null and void in law, in as much as the said Negro-man was not at the period of said sale and transfer a slave of the Plaintiffs to authorize or empower them to dispose of the term of his natural life to the Defendant, whereby the Plaintiffs did impose upon and deceive the Defendant, and under such deceit and imposition and by error did obtain from the Defendant at different times on account of the purchase of the said Negro-man £18, and the said Manuel, not being a slave of the Plaintiffs as aforesaid, did, on or about the 1st day of March last at Montreal, abscond from the Defendant’s service, and has refused to returned, whereof the Plaintiffs had then notice ; and which said Manuel has since been and now is inthe city of Montreal.”

Puis Sullivan fait une demande incidente pour le remboursement des £18 qu’il avait payés.

Daus leur réplique, les Demandeurs soutiennent la vali-

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dité des deux actes ci-dessus, ‘ having had the right to dis “ pose of their title to the service of the said Manuel durin: “ the term in the said acts mentioned, having acquired th “ said title from the late John Turner in his life time by ac

, the said John Turner having “ acquired the same title from Allen “who......7

Le 6 Oct. 1798, une Intervention faite au nom de ‘ Ma- “ nuel Allen a black man, of the city of Montreal, labourer ” who ‘ represents that the point in issue between the said parties Plaintiffs and Defendant in this suit raised on a contract between them, whereby the said Pliffs did covenant with the said Defendant to sell kim the said Manuel Allen as a slave to the said Defendant, whereas he doth aver that by the laws of this land he is not a slave but a freeman, and that they the said PItfs had no right or power to enter into a covenant for selling him; and altho” true it is that he the said Manuel, did on his part covenant to serve the said Defendant five years in consideration that he should be free at the expiration of the said term, yet he saith he ought not to be bound to perform the said covenant, the same being wholly null and void having been entered into by him under an erreur de fait in the supposition of his being a slave and being as to him the said Manuel a nudum factum obligatory on his part without any return or consideration to be made him by the other contracting parties, for which reason and because the final determination of this suit may be injurious to him as a free subject of His Majesty, he humbly prays that he may be permitted to intervene in the cause to defend his rights and that so far as regards him the said Manuel, that the said deeds, acts of covenant mentioned in the declaration of the said Plaintiffs may be declared by this Honorable Court null and void in the same way as if the same had never been passed or entered into.”

Les Demandeurs contestent l’Intervention,

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Le témoin Francis Millan depose que ‘ the said Manuel left Sullivan’s service and told deponent he had absconded because he was a freeman.”

Le témoin Margery Campbell depose ‘“ that the said Manuel run away from the Defendant’s service on a sunday evening in month of March last, alledging as a reason of so doing that other Blacks were free and that he wanted to be free also.”

Voici le Jugement qui fut rendu dans cette cause le 18 Février 1794.

“ The Court having heard the parties by their respective Counsel, as well upon the principal as incidental demand, and duly considered the evidence of record ; and in as much as the Plaintiffs have shewn no title or right to transfer and sell the property claimed in Manuel, a Negro-man, to the Defendant, and that the Defendant is not in possession of the said Manuel so covenanted to be sold, nor can the Defendant upon the evidence adduced sustain a right to the same; It is considered that the Plaintiffs be dismissed of their action and demand with costs to the Defendant, and in as much as it appears that Mary Blaney, one of the Plaintiffs, was duly separated from her husband, and then after had taken and received from the Defendant Thomas John Sullivan the sum of eighteen pounds in part payment for the sale of the said Manuel, and whom she had nought to sell, and that the Defendant had not been legally maintained in a property so undertaken to be tranfered and conveyed, it is further considered that the said Mary Blaney do pay to the said T, J. Sullivan, the incidental Plaintiff in this cause the sum of £18 with costs upon the incidental demand ; and the intervention of the said Manuel Allen is dismissed, each party to pay their own costs.

N. B.—J’ai examiné ce recorder en Février 1853, j'y ai trouvé dûement certifiées copies de la Commission de l’Intendant Raudot, et de son ordonnance du 13 Avril 1709 con-

cernant les esclaves ; ce qui prouve que les Juges en prirent connaissance avant de rendre leur Jugement. Ces docu: ments ont depuis été imprimés. Voir le 2d vol. des Edits et Ord : Royaux, in 40.

Doninus Rex, Rosix alias Rorrrr,

MONTREAL, KINGS BENCH, February Term 1800.

M. Perry on the part of Robin alias Robert a black on the thirty first day of January in the present year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred unlawfully arrested and taken and forthwith unlawfully committed to the common goal and house of correction of the City of Montreal on a charge that he being a slave had absented himself from the house of James Fraser of the current of Saint Mary near the saïd City of Montreal in a warrant granted on the same day and year by Charles Blake, James Dunlop and Robert Jones Esquires three of the justices of Our Lord the King assigned to keep the Peace within the said district the said Robin alias Robert was so arrested and taken and committed and is now unlawfully detained in the said common gaol and house of correction—stiled the owner master and proprietor of him the said Robin alias Robert, without having obtained the leave or permission and against the consent of the said James Fraser—doth move this Honorable Court that this Honorable Court be pleased to award him the said Robin alias Robert His Majesty’s remedial writ of Habeus Corpus directed to the said keeper of the said common gaol and house of correction at Montreal aforesaid commanding him to have the body of the said Robin alias Robert by whatever name he may be called together with the day and cause of his caption and detention before this Honorable Court immeéiately on the receipt of the said writ to do and receive what

this Honorable Court shall then and there consider concerning him in this behalf.

4th May 1799 (signed) A. Perry, Advocate.

(Endorsed) Filed 4 Feb 1800 (signed) J. Reid. Granted.