Caperton v. Bowyer

• Decision Date: 01 December 1871
• Citation: 14 Wall. 216,20 L.Ed. 882,81 U.S. 216
• Parties: CAPERTON v. BOWYER
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

81 U.S. 216

20 L.Ed. 882

14 Wall. 216

CAPERTON v. BOWYER.

December Term, 1871

ERROR to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of West Virginia; the case being thus:

In July, 1862, the State of Virginia (with the exception of certain counties, not including that of Monroe), being in rebellion against the United States, and being so proclaimed by the President on the 1st of that month, one Caperton, provost marshal under the Confederate forces of Monroe County (in which martial law had been declared by Jefferson Davis, March 29th, 1862), caused a certain Bowyer, who had remained faithful to his allegiance, to be arrested and thrown into prison, and there kept for a considerable time, upon a charge of giving information to the forces of the United States.

At this time the right to bring civil suits for false imprisonment was limited by the Virginia Code to apparently one year.¹

In 1863 certain western counties of Virginia, including Monroe County, aforesaid, having formed themselves into a new State were duly received as such into the Union, and in 1865 and 1866 the new State passed two statutes, thus:

'An Act in relation to the Statutes of Limitation, passed March 1st, 1865.

'Be it enacted by the legislature of West Virginia: In computing the time in which any civil suit, proceeding or appeal shall be barred by any statute of limitations, the period from the 17th day of April, 1861, to the date of the passage of this act, shall be excluded from such computation.'

'An Act in relation to the Statutes of Limitation, passed February 27th, 1866.

'Be it enacted by the legislature of West Virginia: In computing the time within which any civil suit or proceeding in trespass or case shall be debarred by any statute of limitation in the counties of Monroe (&c., other counties named), the period from the first day of March, 1865, to the date of the passage of this act, shall be excluded from such computation.'

Prior to the dates of either of these acts, that is to say on the 11th of June, 1864, the Congress of the United States passed 'An act in relation to the limitation of actions in certain cases,' thus:

'That whenever, during the existence of the present rebellion, any action, civil or criminal, shall accrue against any person, who by reason of resistance to the execution of the laws of the United States, or the interruption of the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, cannot be served with process for the commencement of such action or arrest of such person;

'Or whenever, after such action, civil or criminal, shall have accrued, such person cannot, by reason of such resistance of the laws, or such interruption of judicial proceedings, be served with process for the commencement of the action;

'The time during which such person shall be beyond the reach of judicial process, shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited by law for the commencement of such action.'

And in December Term, 1867, this court, in Hanger v. Abbott,² decided that the time during which the courts in the then lately rebellious States were closed to citizens of the loyal States, was, in suits brought by them afterwards, to be excluded from the computation of the time fixed by statutes of limitation within which such suits may be brought; a principle subsequently affirmed, and perhaps extended, A.D. 1870, in The Protector,³ and in Levy v. Stewart.⁴

The rebellion being declared, by the President's proclamation of April 2d, 1866, suppressed in Virginia, and the courts of West Virginia open to all persons, Bowyer, on the 11th May, 1866, sued Caperton in the State Circuit Court of Monroe County, in trespass for the false imprisonment which as Confederate provost marshal he had made in 1862, during the rebellion.

Caperton having demurred to the declaration and pleaded the general issue, put in six special pleas:

1st. That the action was barred, because not brought within one year next after the cause of it accrued.

2d. That it was not so brought within two years.

3d. That more than two years had elapsed after the right of action accrued, and before March 1st, 1865, when the first of the above-quoted statutes of West Virginia was passed.

4th. That at the time of the supposed grievance both the plaintiff and defendant were citizens and residents of Virginia, and that the whole time of limitation prescribed for this action by the law of that State had run while the defendant resided in it, and before the said 1st of March, 1865, when the act of that date was passed.

Then came a plea, thus:

5th. 'That before the time of the supposed grievances, the defendant had, on oath made in conformity with the law long existing in the Commonwealth of Virginia, declared himself a citizen of the said Commonwealth, and solemnly swore that he would be faithful and true to the said Commonwealth, and would support the constitution thereof so long as he continued to be a citizen of the same, and until and at and after the time of the said supposed grievances he continued to be a citizen of the same, and before and at the time of the said supposed grievances the said Commonwealth was engaged in actual war, and an army consisting of a large number, to wit, _____ thousand soldiers, was raised within the then territory of the said Commonwealth, for the safeguard and defence of the same against those who then, by those then acting at the city of Richmond, in said Commonwealth, as the authorities of said Commonwealth, were deemed the enemies thereof; and during the time that the said army was in actual service within said territory for such safeguard and defence, and while the then actual authorities of said Commonwealth and those in the same confederacy therewith were not only belligerents, but recognized as such by the government of the United States, General H. Heth, the general and commander of troops forming part of said army in actual service, did, under the authority of the executive power then in fact exercised over said Commonwealth and over those in the same confederacy therewith, appoint this defendant provost marshal of the county of Monroe; and while this defendant was such provost marshal under said appointment, the plaintiff was, without any special order from or instigation of this defendant, taken and imprisoned upon a charge of harboring deserters, and was, by this defendant, discharged from imprisonment upon his giving surety for his good behavior; and all the supposed grievances whereof the plaintiff has complained, so far as this defendant did or procured, caused, directed, ordered, instigated others to do the same, were acts done while this defendant was such provost marshal under said appointment, and done in what was then in fact the territory of said Commonwealth, and done in pursuance of the executive authority, which then in fact governed in said Commonwealth and in accordance with such laws, rules, and regulations as then in fact prevailed therein.'

This was followed by another plea, the

6th. That on the 7th September, 1865, the President had granted him, the defendant, a full pardon and amnesty for all offences by him committed, arising from participation, direct or implied, in the said rebellion; and the defendant took the oath prescribed in the proclamation of the President, dated May 29th, 1865, and the defendant duly notified the Secretary of State, in writing, that he had received and accepted the said pardon. And further, that all the grievances complained of in the declaration were acts arising from participation, direct and implied, in the said rebellion.

The court sustained the declaration, and issue being tendered to the country on the general issue and the first three of the special pleas, and the court having, without assigning any reasons, decided the three remaining ones to be bad, on general demurrer, the case came on to be tried.

The plaintiff having shown the imprisonment, the defendant offered in evidence, 'both in mitigation of damages and as justification of the acts complained of,' the already-mentioned pardon of the President. This pardon had five conditions annexed to it: (1.) That Caperton should take a certain oath. (2.) That he should not acquire slaves, &c. (3.) That he should pay certain costs. (4.) That he should not claim certain property, or its proceeds. (5.) That he should notify the Secretary of State in writing that he accepted the pardon. It was shown that Caperton had given the required notice and had taken the required oath. What had been done in the other matters did not appear. The court excluded the pardon.

The defendant then requested the court to charge as follows:

'1st. If the jury believe that this action was not brought within one year next before the right to bring the same accrued, the verdict should be for the defendant.

'2d. If the jury believe that the right to bring this action accrued more than one year before the 1st day of March, 1865 and that this action was not brought until after the 1st day of March, 1865, the verdict should be for the defendant.'

The court refused so to charge, and charged thus:

'In computing the time of the statute of limitations in this cause, the jury ought to exclude from the computation all that term of time between the 17th of April, 1861, and 27th of February, 1866, and if the cause of action arose in 1862, as alleged in the declaration, then it is not barred by either of the statutes of limitations upon which issues have been joined.'

Verdict and judgment having, on the 25th July, 1867, gone for the plaintiff, the judgment was taken from the Circuit Court of Monroe County, where the suit was brought, to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of West Virginia. All that now was shown by the record as to the action of that court or the reasons of it, appeared in a certificate from its clerk, thus:

'The court having maturely considered the transcript of the record of the judgment aforesaid, together with the...