Benjamin Sims, Plaintiff In Error v. Thomas Hundley

• Decision Date: 01 January 1848
• Citation: 47 U.S. 1,6 How. 1,12 L.Ed. 319
• Parties: BENJAMIN G. SIMS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. THOMAS HUNDLEY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

47 U.S. 1

6 How. 1

12 L.Ed. 319

BENJAMIN G. SIMS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. THOMAS HUNDLEY.

January Term, 1848

THIS case was brought up, by writ of error, from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi.

In 1835, the following notes were executed:——

$4,000.

Port Gibson 2d May, 1835.

On the fifteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, I promise to pay, to the order of Passmore Hoopes, four thousand dollars, value received, negotiable and payable at the office of the Planters' Bank at Port Gibson.

H. N. SPENCER.

Indorsed: Passmore Hoopes, Benj. G. Sims.

$5,169.

Port Gibson, May 2d, 1835.

Twelve months after the fifteenth February, 1836, I promise to pay, without defalcation, to the order of Passmore Hoopes, five thousand one hundred sixty-nine dollars, value received, negotiable and payable at the office of the Planters' Bank at Port Gibson.

H. N. SPENCER.

Indorsed: Passmore Hoopes, Benj. G. Sims.

$4,000.

Port Gibson, 2d May, 1835.

On the fifteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, I promise to pay, to the order of Passmore Hoopes, four thousand dollars, value received, negotiable and payable at the office of the Planters' Bank at Port Gibson.

H. N. SPENCER.

Indorsed: Passmore Hoopes, Benj. G. Sims.

Port Gibson, May 2, 1835.

Twelve months after the 15th February, 1837, I promise to pay, without defalcation, to the order of Passmore Hoopes, five thousand one hundred sixty-nine dollars, value received, negotiable and payable at the office of the Planters' Bank at Port Gibson.

H. N. SPENCER.

Indorsed: Passmore Hoopes, Benj. G. Sims.

$3,907.17.

Clinton, December 14th, 1835.

On the first day of January, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, I promise to pay Thomas Hundley three thousand nine hundred and seven dollars and seventeen cents, for value received.

BENJ. G. SIMS.

All these notes came into the possession of Thomas Hundley.

In April, 1838, Hundley brought a suit in the Circuit Court, upon all the notes, against Sims, the plaintiff in error.

At May term, 1838, Sims, the defendant, filed two pleas, 1. non assumpsit, and 2. that the notes were passed to Hundley for the purchase of slaves illegally introduced into the State, in contravention of the second section of the seventh article of the constitution.

The plaintiff joined issue upon the first plea and demurred to the second. The court sustained the demurrer, and the cause went to trial upon the general issue plea.

When the cause was called for trial, the defendant moved for a continuance, and filed an affidavit, which it is unnecessary to state; but the court refused the continuance, to which refusal the defendant excepted.

The bill of exceptions then proceeds as follows:——

The plaintiff then produced the following record of a protest of the said note for $5,169, which said record is in the words and figures following, to wit:——

State of Mississippi, Claiborne County, ss:

I, William M. Randolph, notary public, branch Planters' Bank, Port Gibson, duly commissioned and qualified according

to law, and residing in said town, do hereby certify, that on the eighteenth day of February, 1837, I went to the branch Planters' Bank at Port Gibson, and then and there presented for payment the original note, of which the following is a true copy:

$5,169.

Port Gibson, May 2d, 1842.

Twelve months after the 15th February, 1836, I promise to pay, without defalcation, to the order of Passmore Hoopes, five thousand one hundred and sixty-nine dollars, value received, negotiable and payable at the office of the Planters' Bank at Port Gibson.

H. N. SPENCER.

Indorsed,—PASSMORE HOOPES,

BENJ. G. SIMS,

THOS. HUNDLEY.

And I then and there demanded payment of the said note, according to the tenor and effect, and was answered by the teller of the said bank, that the said note would not be paid, and that no funds were deposited in said bank for that purpose; and the said note was not paid by any person, when payment thereof was demanded as aforesaid. Whereupon, I protested said note for non-payment, and notified the parties thereto of said demand, non-payment, and protest, and that the holder of said note looked to them for payment thereof, which notices were given at the time and in the manner following, to wit:——(Copies annexed.)

For Passmore Hoopes, written notice of the above tenor was handed to him at his store in Port Gibson.

For Benjamin G. Sims, a...