Case Name: Jacob Richardson ads. John McCray
Court: Constitutional Court of South Carolina
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1814-11
Citations: 1 Tread 472
Docket Number: 
Parties: Jacob Richardson ads. John McCray.
Judges: Justices Bay, Nott, Bkevakd, and Colcock, concurred.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 472–473

Head Matter:
Charleston, November Term, 1814,
Jacob Richardson ads. John McCray.
Stark, for the Motion,
Haygood, Contra.
The defendant Was the owner of a certain negro slave, who had committed some crime in Barnwell district; and he had been arrested at the instance Of the plaintiff, to answer for this offence. The negro escaped, and got into Charleston, where he was apprehended and committed to the work-house. The plaintiff, without any authority or request from the defendant, went to the work-house, and paid the fees for apprehending and dieting this negro, and brought him to Barnwell, where he was tried for the crime of which he was first charged: and then the plaintiff brought this action to recover the expenses paid by him at the work-house, and his own expenses in bringing him to Barnwell. The presiding judge gave a decree for the plaintiff, on the ground of money laid out and expended for the defendant.

Opinion:
Smith, J.
This doctrine would be monstrous. In the first place, the defendant was not liable for the expenses attendant on the prosecution of his negro for a public offence; and secondly, because it Would thwart every principle of law, to make him so upon the mere act of the plaintiff.
No man can, by a voluntary payment of the debt of another, make himself that man's creditor. This is the opinion of Lord Kenyon, in 8 Durnf. & Eastf 613. The same judge gives his opinion on the same ground, in another case, same book, 310, And the position is so self evident that it cannot need authorities to maintain it. I am of opinion that a new trial should be granted.
Justices Bay, Nott, Bkevakd, and Colcock, concurred.