Case Name: In the matter of BARFIELD GRANTHAM, a shoemaker
Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Decision Date: 1863-06
Citations: 1 Win. 73
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the matter of BARFIELD GRANTHAM, a shoemaker.
Judges: 
Reporter: North Carolina Reports
Volume: 60
Pages: 73–74

Head Matter:
In the matter of BARFIELD GRANTHAM, a shoemaker.
The conscription act requires that the trade on which the claim of a mechanic. to exemption is based, shall be his regular occupation and employment, and not that at which he may work occasionally and at odd times.
The facts are stated in the opinion of'his Honor.
Everett, for the petitioner.
Sfrong and Bragg, contra.

Opinion:
Battle, J.
The petitioner claims to be exempt from military service as a conscript, upon the ground that he was a shoemaker. The testimony offered in support of his claim, shows that for some years past, he had a small farm on' which he worked during the spring and summer, blit during'fall and winter he made shoes for his own family, and for some of his neighbors. In August, 1862, he commenced, and continued to do more work in the business of making shoes than he had been previously accustomed to do, though it does not appear that he devoted himself exclusively to that occupation. This proof is not, in our opinion, sufficient to establish the right to the exemption for which the party contends. The conscription act requires that the trade upon which the claim of a mechanic to exemption is based, shall be his regular occupation and employment, and not that at which he may work occasionally and at odd times. A mechanic is excused from military service, not for his own ease, and as a favor to Iiim-sepf, but for the benefit of the public,- whom, it is supposed, that he can serve better by working at his' trade, than in any other way. He must stand towards the community upon the same footiug that a common carrier does, so that all persons whp may have occasion to claim the aid of his services, may, at all seasonable times, be able to obtain it.
The petitioner has not shown himself to be within the limits of this rule, and his application for a discharge is, there fore, rejected.
Pee CueiaM, Application rejected.