Case Name: Wm. J. Allston and others v. W. Thompson
Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1840
Citations: 1 Chev. 271
Docket Number: 
Parties: Wm. J. Allston and others v. W. Thompson.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 25
Pages: 271–272

Head Matter:
Wm. J. Allston and others v. W. Thompson.
A deed without any subscribing witness is not a valid deed to convey land.
Before Evans, J., at Greenville, Fall Term, 1838.
This was an action of trespass to try title. Plaintiff traced his title through a deed from Robert Cochran, Marshal of the United States, for the District of South Carolina. This deed was without any subscribing witness, and the only proof of it offered was evidence to the handwriting of Cochran. There had been no possession under it.
The Court was of opinion that, as this deed was not in the form prescribed by the Act of Assembly, nor in that of any of the common law modes of conveyance, and was without a subscribing witness, it was not a valid deed to convey land. So the plaintiff was nonsuit.
The plaintiff moved the Court of Appeals, in November, to set aside the nonsuit; and, the Court being equally divided upon the question, the case was carried up to the Court of Errors, and postponed to the next term.

Opinion:
In the meantime the following similar case occurred of Craig v. Pinson, and the two cases were considered together by the Court.