Case Name: William Shaw ads. Robert M'Combs
Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1799
Citations: 2 Bay 232
Docket Number: 
Parties: William Shaw ads. Robert M‘Combs.
Judges: Present, Burice, Grimke, Watif.s and Bay.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 2
Pages: 232–233

Head Matter:
William Shaw ads. Robert M‘Combs.
Charleston District,
1799.
delivered “Vn tm Sunday morning alter the expiration of the twelfth hour,it is void, good ground JST “agreeable mondaw m-lx" im, dies do-mmcus}r non est dies juri-
SLANDER. This was a case tried at Cambridge, iu which the jury gave 1,000 dollars damages. J J o i o
. A motion was made for a new trial, and by consent it was argued at Charleston, instead of Columbia. The prin-ciPal Srounds were, 1st. Excessive damages ; and, 2d. 1 hat t^eÍur3' &d not deliver in their verdict until Sunday morning, There was another ground, to wit, misconduct in the iury . d J m eating and drinking at the expense of the plaintiff, after they had gone out to consider of their verdict,. Rut the ground on which the defendant chiefly relied, was the second ground ; that the-verdict was not delivered into court until a considerable time after the hour of adjournment; and to substantiate this fact, a certificate of the clerk was produced under the seal of the court, which stated that the verdict was not delivered in by the jury until some time on Sunday morning, a considerable time after twelve o’clock, the hour limited by law for the conclusion of the term.
It was then urged in support of the motion, that this ver» diet ought to be set aside, on this ground alone, if there was no other to support the motion j that the act of the legisla* ture authorized the court to meet at Cambridge, in Ninety-Six district, on the 16th days of April and November- in each year, and to set ten days, or until the business of the court was ii.ashed. But it is a well known rule of the common law, that the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday, is not a day in law, dies dominicus, non est dies juridicus ; consequently, ail temporal business transacted on that day, is null and void, as it is set apart by our holy religion, for the worship of the Almighty, and the necessary preparations for that purpose. The court it was s.aid, might sit till the last minute of the twelfth hour, but no longer»

Opinion:
The judges without further argument, or hearing any thing said on the other grounds, set aside the verdict and ordered a new trial on this ground alone.
Present, Burice, Grimke, Watif.s and Bay.