Case Name: BURR'S CASE
Court: Delaware Superior Court
Jurisdiction: Delaware
Decision Date: 1851
Citations: 5 Harr. 351
Docket Number: 
Parties: BURR’S CASE.
Judges: 
Reporter: Delaware Reports
Volume: 5
Pages: 351–351

Head Matter:
BURR’S CASE.
Free negroes being in this State prior to the act of 1851, arc not subject to its penalties, though non-residents.
In the matter of the application of William Burr, negro. Habeas corpus to the jailer of Sussex county.
The prisoner was committed by Justice Morris, for non-payment of a fine of $50, imposed on him, on the information of George Harris, charging him, the said William Burr, free negro, with being a non-resident and being in the State of Delaware, contrary to the statute, &c.
Layton, for petitioner.
Houston and Robinson, contra.

Opinion:
The Court
discharged the petitioner, on proof that he did not come into the State after the passing of the act of 1851; and could not, therefore, be subject to its penalties.
The act must receive a strict, and not an enlarged construction beyond its terms, which are highly penal.
Petitioner discharged.