| Summary: | In an effort to apprehend a group of runaway slaves responsible for great outrages, several magistrates of Gates county met between terms of the county court and ordered that a reward of [dollars] 1,600 be offered for the capture of the four slaves, or [dollars] 400 for each one. The plaintiffs claimed that they, together with one Collins, had apprehended three of the slaves, but that they were unable to recover their reward because Collins had fraudulently dismissed a suit brought to recover it. The prayer of the suit was for [dollars] 1,200 for the three slaves; the defendants were the magistrates who had offered the reward. The Supreme Court ruled that though it was admitted by all sides that the magistrates had not enjoyed the power to commit the county to offering the reward as they had been sitting outside the regular terms of the court, it did not concur with the plaintiffs' assertion that the magistrates therefore bound themselves personally to pay the reward. The bill was dismissed, though the court advised the plaintiffs that if they had a well-founded claim against the county, it ought not to be doubted but that, on proper application, they will obtain full justice.
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