Case No. 13,900.

THOMAS v. JAMESSON.

[1 Cranch, C. C. 91.]¹

Circuit Court, District of Columbia.

April Term, 1802.

SLAVERY—SLAVE AS WITNESS.

A slave cannot be a witness if a free white man be a party.

Assault and battery. The plaintiff was a man of color. The defendant, a free white man, offered his slave as a witness under the act of assembly (Rev. Code, 289, § 3; Old Acts Assem. p. 284).

THE COURT refused to permit the slave to be sworn. See Act Jan. 21, 1801, § 4 [Laws Va. 1800–01, p. 38].

¹ [Reported by Hon. William Cranch, Chief Judge.]

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