Robinson v. County Commissioners

Eccleston, J., delivered the opinion of this court. On the 23rd of November 1853, in the circuit court for Harford county, George Brown, the slave of the appellants, was tried upon an indictment for larceny, and found guilty. The same day the judge of the court (the Hon. Albert Constable) passed judgment upon the verdict, directing that the criminal should be sold as a slave for life, by the sheriff of the county, to some person who should convey him beyond the limits of this State; and the judge also valued and appraised the negro, George Brown, at the sum of six hundred dollars, which it was adjudged and determined should be assessed and levied upon the taxable property of Harford county, by the commissioners of said county, to and for the use of the present appellants; and that if the negro should sell for more than $600, then the excess thereof should be assessed and levied in addi ¹³⁹ tion thereto by the said commissioners, to and for the use of his owners aforesaid.

On the 2nd of December following, the commissioners for the county filed a petition, alleging that the valuation of the negro was excessive, and that the same must have been made iu consequence of misinformation, or from want of proper knowledge in regard to his diseased and crippled condition, and praying that the judgment of the court might be suspended and reconsidered. With this petition was filed an affidavit of Dr. E. H. Richardson, stating the crippled condition of the negro, and the diseased state of his feet. The record then proceeds thus: “Whereupon the court here passed the following order, to wit: Order of court, December 2nd, 1853. On considering the matter of the within petition, it is ordered, that the sheriff of Harford county suspend the execution of tiie judgment, and retain the said negro prisoner until the hearing of this application, and the further order of the court; and it is further ordered, that the same stand for hearing on the 4th day of January next, with liberty to the owner or owners of said negro, and the commissioners of the county, to take testimony before any justice of the peace of Harford county, on five days’ notice, to be used at the said hearing, and lhat a copy of this order be served on the owners of the said negro, or their counsel, on or before the 15th instant.

Albert Constable.” Under this order affidavits were taken and filed on both sides. The counsel for the owners filed a motion to dismiss the petition, assigning various reasons therefor. On the 29th of November 1855, Judge Drice (the successor of Judge Constable) ordered and adjudged that the said negro should be sold to some person who would carry him out of this State, and that the sale should be made by the sheriff of the county. And the order goes on to say: “And the court, upon proof and personal visit and examination of said negro, values said negro, George Drown, at the sum of $>400, to be paid to the owners of said negro; and the court further directs, that if said negro produces, on sale, more than $>400,-that the excess over ¡£400, which said negro may produce on such sale, be ¹⁴⁰ paid to his owners, in addition to said $400.

And it is further ordered and adjudged, that so much of the order passed by this court at November term 1853, as is inconsistent with this order, be and tire same is hereby rescinded.” The negro was,sold, on the 29th of January 1856, for $250; and on the 25th of April following, the counsel for the present appellants filed the following directions for an appeal: “The owners of negro George, by their counsel, direct the clerk to enter an appeal from the judgment at November term, setting aside former valuation,” &c. If the language used, in directing this appeal to be entered, can be considered as intended to include the action of the court in reference to the sentence, as well as the valuation of the negro, still the proceedings in relation to the sentence are not properly before us for revision. The State and the negro were the onty parties who could ask this tribunal to review the action of the court below in relation to the sentence. The owners have no such right.

When a convicted slave is sentenced, if the court should neglect to ascertain his value, the owners would have the right to apply for a prompt valuation; as the act of 1809, ch. 138, sec. 21, requires the court, immediately, after conviction, to value the slave. And should such an application be refused, the owners would be entitled to an appeal. The amount of the valuation, however, is a matter within the discretion of the court in which the case is tried, and, therefore, is not subject to revision by an appellate tribunal. Conceding, then, that in reference to the valuation of a convicted slave, (except it be as to the amount thereof,) if the court commits an error, the owners may appeal, it becomes necessary to ascertain whether any such error is to be found in the case before us.

There certainly was no delay in the first action of the court on this subject. The verdict, the sentence and the valuation all occurred the same day. The appellants, however, among other grounds of alleged error, insist that the application to have the judgment suspended and reconsidered, was filed too late, and the order of the court passed thereupon was erroneous; 'and, therefore, the petition of the appellees should have been dismissed upon the ¹⁴¹ motion of the appellants. The first reason assigned in support of this view, is based upon and sets out an alleged rule of the court in regard to a motion in arrest of judgment, or for a new trial.

Now if there was proof of the rule, and the analogy between the application under this petition and either of the motions mentioned in the rule, as stated, was so striking as to render it proper to require that the petition should have been filed within the time limited by the rule, although this might be conceded as true, still it could be of no avail to