United States v. Hill

District of Columbia

United States v. Hill

1 D.C. 521

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia

DecidedDecember 15, 1808

StatusPublished

This text of 1 D.C. 521 (United States v. Hill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

United States v. Hill, 1 D.C. 521 (D.D.C. 1808).

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Opinion

But the Court

(Duckett, J., absent,)

having more fully considered the Acts of Assembly of 1717, c. 13, and 1751, c. 14, § 4, were of opinion that a slave is not a competent witness against a free-born mulatto, not under a state of temporary servitude. It is also clear, that the slave cannot be admitted under the third section of the act of 1717. It cannot be implied, from the exclusion (in the second section) of slaves as witnesses against a white person, that they may be admitted against a free person of color ; for the principles of the civil law, and of the laws of every country where slavery is tolerated, exclude them as witnesses against a free person.

Verdict, not guilty.

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But the Court

(Duckett, J., absent,)

having more fully considered the Acts of Assembly of 1717, c. 13, and 1751, c. 14, § 4, were of opinion that a slave is not a competent witness against a free-born mulatto, not under a state of temporary servitude. It is also clear, that the slave cannot be admitted under the third section of the act of 1717. It cannot be implied, from the exclusion (in the second section) of slaves as witnesses against a white person, that they may be admitted against a free person of color ; for the principles of the civil law, and of the laws of every country where slavery is tolerated, exclude them as witnesses against a free person.

Verdict, not guilty.

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Bluebook (online)

1 D.C. 521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hill-dcd-1808.