Case Name: Steel, qui tam, against Roach
Court: South Carolina Court of Common Pleas
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1788-06-02
Citations: 1 Bay 63
Docket Number: 
Parties: Steel, qui tam, against Roach.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 63–64

Head Matter:
Steel, qui tam, against Roach.
June 2, 1788.
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AN information upon the revenue laws of the state had been filed by Moultrie, attorney-general, at the relation of the plaintiff, against the defendant, claimant of the cargo of the schooner May-Flower, for landing in the port of Charleston 24 barrels and 5 hogsheads of sugar, 11 barrels, of coffee, and 9 boxes of oil, before a. permit wa.s obtained, entry made, or duty paid ; and also for unloading in the morning, before sunrise, contrary to the acts of the legislature ; by reason whereof, the whole became forfeited, one half to the informer, the other half to the state. The defendant being unacquainted with the revenue laws of this country, and the person on whom he relied being equally so, and a foreigner, he landed 12 barrels before sunrise, (as the tide then suited to bring them on shore,) which, upon finding his mistake, he tendered to the prosecutor, and contested as to the residue. Upon trial, there was a verdict for the defendant.
A motion was afterwards made for a new trial. But

Opinion:
The Court,
after full argument, discharged the rule, upon the ground of this being a qui tam or penal action, in which case the court will seldom grant a new trial, as these kind of penal actions are considered as hard and rigorous ones.