Case Name: Eveleigh against the Administrators of Stitt
Court: South Carolina Court of Common Pleas
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1789-10-27
Citations: 1 Bay 92
Docket Number: 
Parties: Eveleigh against the Administrators of Stitt.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 92–93

Head Matter:
Eveleigh against the Administrators of Stitt.
that the value *t the time of covery,1 °shaU he the measure ot damages; yet, un-euliar hard-mayS’ lessen to the°cir-an™ justice of the case, Although the tiiIa ni In tv ic
THIS was an action on a warranty, in order to recover the value of sundry negroes, sold by the deceased Stitt; ar>d which, by a title paramount to that under which he had been recovered in an action against the plaintiff, by the trustees of Mrs. Huxam. J
The case was briefly this. During the war, while paper money was m a rapid course of depreciation. Baker, the former husband of Mrs. Huxam, sold the negroes in ques-^on t0 one Phepoe. Phepoe soon after sold to Burke, who so^to wh° again sold to the plaintiff Eveleigh. In the whole course of these transactions, no money was paid, but bonds given by the different purchasers for the purchase money : nor was any possession given of the negroes, till the present plaintiff got them from Baker. Soon after the peace, Mrs, jHuxam’s trustees brought an action against the present plaintiff, who was then possessor, and recovered them; they having been settled on her by Baker, previous to their marriage, This occasioned the present suit against the estate of Stitt, and the only question of difficulty which arose was, what should be the measure of damages ? whether the value of the negroes at the time they were sold, or their value at the time they were recovered from Eve-leigh f
The case being a new one, and a kind of speculating contract, out of the usual course of things, without any consideration passing from the buyers to the sellers, and without any view to the use and labour of the negroes ; and one which was likefy to fall extremely hard on Burke, the only ostensible person in the country, Phepoe having gone off; and Baker's estate not sufficient to make good the loss;

Opinion:
The Court,
under the peculiar circumstances of the case., left it to foe jury to give wha,t they thought reasonable.
Moultrie, for plaintiff. Pringle, for defendant.
The Jury accordingly allowed, the average price of the negroes, between the first and last sale, according to the scale of depreciation, with interest on that sum till the time of verdict- In this verdict all parties acquiesced.
In the course of the arguments, the case of Liber and wife against the executors of Parsons, (ante,) was relied on, as in point for the plaintiff, for the full value of the negroes. And in reply, it was acknowledged, that the doctrine laid down for the plaintiff in that case, was the general law with regard to damages. But that this was an exception to the general rule, on account of the peculiar circumstances under which these different contracts were made, and the extreme hardship of the case should it fall on Burke., who had never gained a shilling by it, and who was the only person left to make good whatever damages might be given.