Yancy v. Harris
| Decision Date | 30 April 1851 |
| Docket Number | No. 96.,96. |
| Citation | 9 Ga. 535 |
| Parties | Jacob Yancy, plaintiff in error. vs. Ezekiel Harris, defendant in error. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Habeas Corpus, from Forsyth county. Decision by Judge John H. Lumpkin.
This was a writ or habeas corpus sued out by Jacob Yancy, alleging that he was illegally confined by Ezekiel Harris, the defendant. In his answer, defendant returned that the plaintiff had been brought before the Inferior Court of Forsyth county, as a free person of color, charged with violating the laws of the State on the subject of registration of such persons; that plaintiff has pleaded guilty to that charge, and had been sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, and in default thereof had beenhired, by order of. the Court, to defendant, by virtue of which he held plaintiff in custody.
On the hearing of the habeas corpus, it was admitted that plaintiff was of dark complexion; that he was the son of a white woman, and that after he was fourteen years of age, but before he was twenty-one, he had applied to the Inferior Court of said county to have a guardian appointed for him, as a free person of color, and had applied to the Clerk to be registered as such.
Plaintiff contended that, as the child of a white woman, he was presumed to be a white person until found otherwise by two Juries, as provided by law. The fact stated in defendant's answer were not denied.
The Court refused the application, and remanded plaintiff into the custody of defendant; to which decision plaintiff excepted.
No one appearing for the defendant in error, the plaintiff was allowed to proceed, ex parte.
W. H. Underwood, for plaintiff in error.
By the Court.—Nisbet, J., delivering the opinion.
The return to the writ of habeas corpus shows that Jacob Yancy had been brought before the Inferior Court as a free person of color, upon a charge of having violated the Registry Laws, and upon a plea of guilty, was sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, and being unable to pay, was, in pursuance of the Statute, hired to the respondent.
Upon the hearing, it was conceded by agreement of parties, that he was a dark colored person, and the son of a free white woman, &c. Upon these facts, his counsel assumed that, being the son of a free woman, he followed the condition of his mother as to civil rights, and was from that fact to be held and taken as a citizen, until the contrary was made to appear by two concurring verdicts of a Jury, as provided by our Statute Law....
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Riley v. Garrett
...or other remedial process. That principle is sound and is supported by a long line of decisions both within and without this State. Yancy v. Harris, 9 Ga. 535; Lark v. State, 55 Ga. 435; McFarland v. Donaldson, 115 Ga. 567(1), 41 S.E. 691; Harrell v. Avera, 139 Ga. 340 (1), 77 S.E. 160; Wel......
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State v. Malone
...matter of return (Marcein v. The People, 25 Wend. 64; Commonwealth v. Wetherhold, 4 Pa. L. J. 265; Ex parte Toney, 11 Mo. 661; Yancey v. Harris, 9 Ga. 535); and where the party detained is held under such an adjudication, the regularity of the proceeding is not examinable upon habeas corpus......
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Harrell v. Avera
...66 S. E. 401. And see Yeates v. Roberson, 4 Ga. App. 573 (3), 62 S. E. 104; McFarland v. Donaldson, 115 Ga. 567, 41 S. E. 1000; Yancy v. Harris, 9 Ga. 535. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Habeas Corpus, Cent. Dig. §§ 24, 25; Dec. Dig. 29, 30.*] 2. Habeas Corpus (§ 29*)—Grounds of Relief—Irr......
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Harrell v. Avera
... ... 192, 66 S.E. 401. And see Yeates v ... Roberson, 4 Ga.App. 573 (3), 62 S.E. 104; McFarland ... v. Donaldson, 115 Ga. 567, 41 S.E. 1000; Yancy v ... Harris, 9 Ga. 535 ... The ... defendant was indicted for a "felony," and the ... evidence tended to show incestuous ... ...