Ewell vs. The Commonwealth: A Bill: Difference between revisions
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<div align="center" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Ewell vs. The Commonwealth—A Bill.</div> | <div align="center" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Ewell vs. The Commonwealth—A Bill.</div> | ||
<div style="float: right; margin: 20px;">1794.<br /><br />Mar. 10th</div> | <div style="float: right; margin: 20px; font-size: 80%;">1794.<br /><br />Mar. 10th</div> | ||
To the Honorable George Wythe, Judge of the High Court of Chancery: Humbly complaining your Orator, Charles Ewell, Alexander Compton, John Jackson, David Renoe, William Flagus, Bondveale Brown, Jeremiah Ballenger, Alexander Ross, William Milstead, Dudley Ballenger, Dudley Petty, Ezekiah Dunnington, Joseph Ballenger, Gustavus Scott, John Peyton Horton, Wm. Clinkscales, Margaret Foster, Catherine Davis, & Benjamin Posey, Tenants on the Bristow's track of land in Prince William County, Sheweth unto your Honor, that Robert Bristow, late of Great Britain, in or about the year 1745, being possessed of a tract of unleased land in the county of Prince William containing about seven thousand acres, was desirous to settle tenants on said tract, and accordingly his Agent, Cole Henry Willis, caused advertisements to be distributed and set up in different parts of the county inviting people to settle on said land which had been previously laid off into lots containing from One hundred to one hundred & fifty acres each according to the quality of the land, and promising all those who should settle on bis lands Leases for three lives or ninety-nine years for the lots they should respectfully settle on, at the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, a lot, which advertisement were continued to be distributed and set up by Colo. Richard Blackburn, who succeeded the aforesaid Colo. Henry Willis as Agent for the said Robert Bristow, and was never contradicted or countermanded by any of the subsequent Agents of the said Bristow, but was on the contrary acknowledged by them to be valid and binding on said Bristow, and continued to encourage tenants to settle on said land on the terms mentioned in said advertisements untill all the lots were settled and Improved. That yoor orators have separately purchased from the first settlers on said lots or those claiming under them for valuable considerations, the lots on said tract of which they are now respectively possessed, and were induced and encouraged to make such purchases from the repeated declarations and assurances of the Agents of Bristow before the said land was confiscated, and of the Commissioners of the Commonwealth since the confiscation, that the rights of those from whom they purchased were good. That the said tract of land was confiscated in the year 1779 but has remained unsold, and your orators have continued to hold and possess their respective lots, paying to the Commonwealth the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, and always expected peaceably and quietly to hold and enjoy their respective lots according to the terms set forth in the before mentioned advertisements undisturbed by the Commonwealth, more especially as the right of some of the tenants who put in their claims to the General Court on the return of the inquisition against the said Robert Bristow to said Court were confirmed by said Court which rights were in all respects similar to the rights | To the Honorable George Wythe, Judge of the High Court of Chancery: Humbly complaining your Orator, Charles Ewell, Alexander Compton, John Jackson, David Renoe, William Flagus, Bondveale Brown, Jeremiah Ballenger, Alexander Ross, William Milstead, Dudley Ballenger, Dudley Petty, Ezekiah Dunnington, Joseph Ballenger, Gustavus Scott, John Peyton Horton, Wm. Clinkscales, Margaret Foster, Catherine Davis, & Benjamin Posey, Tenants on the Bristow's track of land in Prince William County, Sheweth unto your Honor, that Robert Bristow, late of Great Britain, in or about the year 1745, being possessed of a tract of unleased land in the county of Prince William containing about seven thousand acres, was desirous to settle tenants on said tract, and accordingly his Agent, Cole Henry Willis, caused advertisements to be distributed and set up in different parts of the county inviting people to settle on said land which had been previously laid off into lots containing from One hundred to one hundred & fifty acres each according to the quality of the land, and promising all those who should settle on bis lands Leases for three lives or ninety-nine years for the lots they should respectfully settle on, at the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, a lot, which advertisement were continued to be distributed and set up by Colo. Richard Blackburn, who succeeded the aforesaid Colo. Henry Willis as Agent for the said Robert Bristow, and was never contradicted or countermanded by any of the subsequent Agents of the said Bristow, but was on the contrary acknowledged by them to be valid and binding on said Bristow, and continued to encourage tenants to settle on said land on the terms mentioned in said advertisements untill all the lots were settled and Improved. That yoor orators have separately purchased from the first settlers on said lots or those claiming under them for valuable considerations, the lots on said tract of which they are now respectively possessed, and were induced and encouraged to make such purchases from the repeated declarations and assurances of the Agents of Bristow before the said land was confiscated, and of the Commissioners of the Commonwealth since the confiscation, that the rights of those from whom they purchased were good. That the said tract of land was confiscated in the year 1779 but has remained unsold, and your orators have continued to hold and possess their respective lots, paying to the Commonwealth the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, and always expected peaceably and quietly to hold and enjoy their respective lots according to the terms set forth in the before mentioned advertisements undisturbed by the Commonwealth, more especially as the right of some of the tenants who put in their claims to the General Court on the return of the inquisition against the said Robert Bristow to said Court were confirmed by said Court which rights were in all respects similar to the rights | ||
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<div style="float: left; margin: 20px;">1794.<br /><br />Mar. 10th</div> | <div style="float: left; margin: 20px; font-size: 80%;">1794.<br /><br />Mar. 10th</div> | ||
claimed by your Orators. All which foregoing facts ate fully proved by the affidavits hereto annexed. But now, so it is, may it please year honor, that by an act passed at the last session of the Assembly, the Governor and Council were directed to appoint a Commissioner to make sale of the said tract of land, and they have accordingly appointed Thomas Lee of Prince William County a Commissioner for that purpose, who has advertised a sale of said lands to be made on the first Monday in May next, and unless the just and equitable claims of your orators to leases for their respective lots on the terms & for the time Specified in the aforesaid advertisements are established previous to the sale, they will necessarily be exposed to tedious and expensive law suits with the purchasers of said lands. In tender consideration whereof, and for as much as your Orators are remedyless by the strict rules of common law, and are only releiveable [''sic''] in the Honorable Court which has power to hear and determine the equitable claims of citizens to confiscated property, May it please your honor to grant an injunction to be directed to the attorney for the Commonwealth & the aforesaid Thomas Lee to stay the sale of the lots of which your Orators are respectively possessed untill their claims can be heard and determined, and finally to make such decree or order therein as to your Orator shall seem Just, &c. | claimed by your Orators. All which foregoing facts ate fully proved by the affidavits hereto annexed. But now, so it is, may it please year honor, that by an act passed at the last session of the Assembly, the Governor and Council were directed to appoint a Commissioner to make sale of the said tract of land, and they have accordingly appointed Thomas Lee of Prince William County a Commissioner for that purpose, who has advertised a sale of said lands to be made on the first Monday in May next, and unless the just and equitable claims of your orators to leases for their respective lots on the terms & for the time Specified in the aforesaid advertisements are established previous to the sale, they will necessarily be exposed to tedious and expensive law suits with the purchasers of said lands. In tender consideration whereof, and for as much as your Orators are remedyless by the strict rules of common law, and are only releiveable [''sic''] in the Honorable Court which has power to hear and determine the equitable claims of citizens to confiscated property, May it please your honor to grant an injunction to be directed to the attorney for the Commonwealth & the aforesaid Thomas Lee to stay the sale of the lots of which your Orators are respectively possessed untill their claims can be heard and determined, and finally to make such decree or order therein as to your Orator shall seem Just, &c. | ||
Revision as of 18:10, 6 February 2026
The Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1869 (1888) records a bill from Virginia's High Court of Chancery, in the case of Ewell v. Commonwealth (1794). The document states John Marshall winning for the complaintant, and contains the decision of Chancellor George Wythe.[1] The manuscript was a copy created by Wythe's Clerk of the High Court of Chancery, Peter Tinsley.
Article text, 1888
Page 65
Ewell vs. The Commonwealth—A Bill.1794.
Mar. 10thTo the Honorable George Wythe, Judge of the High Court of Chancery: Humbly complaining your Orator, Charles Ewell, Alexander Compton, John Jackson, David Renoe, William Flagus, Bondveale Brown, Jeremiah Ballenger, Alexander Ross, William Milstead, Dudley Ballenger, Dudley Petty, Ezekiah Dunnington, Joseph Ballenger, Gustavus Scott, John Peyton Horton, Wm. Clinkscales, Margaret Foster, Catherine Davis, & Benjamin Posey, Tenants on the Bristow's track of land in Prince William County, Sheweth unto your Honor, that Robert Bristow, late of Great Britain, in or about the year 1745, being possessed of a tract of unleased land in the county of Prince William containing about seven thousand acres, was desirous to settle tenants on said tract, and accordingly his Agent, Cole Henry Willis, caused advertisements to be distributed and set up in different parts of the county inviting people to settle on said land which had been previously laid off into lots containing from One hundred to one hundred & fifty acres each according to the quality of the land, and promising all those who should settle on bis lands Leases for three lives or ninety-nine years for the lots they should respectfully settle on, at the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, a lot, which advertisement were continued to be distributed and set up by Colo. Richard Blackburn, who succeeded the aforesaid Colo. Henry Willis as Agent for the said Robert Bristow, and was never contradicted or countermanded by any of the subsequent Agents of the said Bristow, but was on the contrary acknowledged by them to be valid and binding on said Bristow, and continued to encourage tenants to settle on said land on the terms mentioned in said advertisements untill all the lots were settled and Improved. That yoor orators have separately purchased from the first settlers on said lots or those claiming under them for valuable considerations, the lots on said tract of which they are now respectively possessed, and were induced and encouraged to make such purchases from the repeated declarations and assurances of the Agents of Bristow before the said land was confiscated, and of the Commissioners of the Commonwealth since the confiscation, that the rights of those from whom they purchased were good. That the said tract of land was confiscated in the year 1779 but has remained unsold, and your orators have continued to hold and possess their respective lots, paying to the Commonwealth the rent of Five hundred and thirty pounds of transfer Tobacco, and always expected peaceably and quietly to hold and enjoy their respective lots according to the terms set forth in the before mentioned advertisements undisturbed by the Commonwealth, more especially as the right of some of the tenants who put in their claims to the General Court on the return of the inquisition against the said Robert Bristow to said Court were confirmed by said Court which rights were in all respects similar to the rights
Page 66
1794.
Mar. 10thclaimed by your Orators. All which foregoing facts ate fully proved by the affidavits hereto annexed. But now, so it is, may it please year honor, that by an act passed at the last session of the Assembly, the Governor and Council were directed to appoint a Commissioner to make sale of the said tract of land, and they have accordingly appointed Thomas Lee of Prince William County a Commissioner for that purpose, who has advertised a sale of said lands to be made on the first Monday in May next, and unless the just and equitable claims of your orators to leases for their respective lots on the terms & for the time Specified in the aforesaid advertisements are established previous to the sale, they will necessarily be exposed to tedious and expensive law suits with the purchasers of said lands. In tender consideration whereof, and for as much as your Orators are remedyless by the strict rules of common law, and are only releiveable [sic] in the Honorable Court which has power to hear and determine the equitable claims of citizens to confiscated property, May it please your honor to grant an injunction to be directed to the attorney for the Commonwealth & the aforesaid Thomas Lee to stay the sale of the lots of which your Orators are respectively possessed untill their claims can be heard and determined, and finally to make such decree or order therein as to your Orator shall seem Just, &c.
(Marshall for the Compts.)
Let injunctions issue to stay the sale, the plaintiffs giving security in the penalty of twenty pounds. Commissions are awarded to take the examinations of witnesses 8th of Feb'y, 1794.
Signed,
G. WYTHE.
A Copy—Teste:
PETER TINSLEY, C.H.C.C.
See also
References
- ↑ Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1869, vol. 7, Sherwin McRae and Raleigh Colston, eds. (Richmond: J.H. O'Bannon, 1888), 65-66.
External links
- Read this book in the Internet Archive.