| Summary: | Suit for a divorce and for alimony. The couple were married from 1836 to 1844, when the wife went to live with her brother. This case had been appealed to the Supreme Court by the defendant. Samuel had co-habited with one of his slave women called Lucy. He had a child by her and she became the virtual manager of his household. The wife's petition also accused the husband of being regularly drunk, beating her and committing adultery with the slave. The wife was even forced to sleep together with Lucy and the defendant. The petitioner was treated very badly The husband's answer admitted that at one time he had been much intoxicated, but assured the court that such behaviour had ceased several years before his wife left him. He denied all the other allegations. Whilst the Supreme Court admitted that the husband had treated his wife with contempt, depriving her of all authority as mistress of the house and conferring it on the negro, and that he had committed adultery with Lucy, it reversed the granting of the divorce a vinculo on the grounds that no adultery had been proved after the wife had finally left home and held that a reconciliation was still possible as the parties had not seen each other since she left. Chief Justice Ruffin said that there had been error in the original decree and the case was sent back to the Superior Court in New Hanover. The petitioner was allowed to amend her petition and eventually was successful in obtaining a divorce. The defendant had to pay the costs of the proceedings. The defendant owned slaves and other property to the value of [dollars] 2,800 and it was ordered that he pay a sum of [dollars] 933.33, being one third of the amount, to the petitioner. As a cross-check, the clerk was to provide the court with an estimate of the value of the defendant's property.
|
|---|