HUNTER VERSUS FAIRFAX'S DEVISEE

U.S. | 1796-08-01
3 Dall. 305 Supreme Court of the United States (1796) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 1 L. Ed. 613 · SCDB 1796-006 · 1796 U.S. LEXIS 404
Cited by 25 cases

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Synopsis

The Supreme Court continued the case of Hunter versus Fairfax's Devisee to the next term to allow adequate time for counsel to investigate the legal principles and authorities involved. The central issue was whether a British subject residing in Great Britain could take and hold Virginia lands devised to him by will under the Treaty of Peace of 1783, despite being an alien. The Court determined that a matter of such magnitude and importance required careful deliberation and should not be decided ex parte or under the pressure of the current court term.


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Opinion of the Court
But, #y the pouRT

But, #y the pouRT

:-^In all queftions of this nature, wfe muft be governed by a found difcretion; in order to prevent, on the one hand, an unneceffar.y procraftination, and, on the other hand, to, avoid an injurious precipitation of trials. In the prefent inftance, we think there is a fufficient foundation laid before us,, to juftify our granting a continuance ’till the next Term. If the cauie were now? to be taken up, it.muft be heard and decided ex parte. It is .true, that counfel might even at this time be employed, fo as to admit, perhaps, of an argument before the court rifes; but it is reafonable, that in a caufe of fuch magnitude,* the counfel fhould have an opportunity to inveftigate the principles, and to confider the authorities conne&ed with it, out of term, and unencumbered by the prefiure óf the current bufinefs of the court.

Let the Caufe be. continued.

*

The Attorney General Hated the pbinfih controverfy to ante on. thefe fails : Lord Fairfax Was a cifizen of yirgirlia, anti died in the year 1780; Having made a will by which he'dev jfed certain lands in that ftate, to the Defendant in esror, who then was, and ever has been, a Britiíh fabjeft, relident in Great Britain. The queftion is, whether being thus an alien, the Defendant in error can take and hold the lands by de-vife? And, it will be contended, that his title is completely proteifted bythe Treaty of Peace, concluded between the tlnited States and.Great Britain, in the year 1783.

Chase, ~Jupce : 1 recollect, that in Harrifon’s cafe, a deciiion in favor offucha devifee’s title was given, by a court in Maryland. It is a matter; however, of great momenl; and ought to be deliberately-and finally fettled.


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Citator

Cited By (22 total)

  • …ence of a statute or enforceable contract,” Fleischmann Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 386 U.S. 714, 717, 87 S.Ct. 1404, 18 L.Ed.2d 475 (1967), was articulated at least as early as the opinion in Arcambel v. Wiseman, 3 U.S. 306, 3 Dall. 306, 1 L.Ed. 613 (1796).…
  • United States v. Carmine Tramunti, 513 F.2d 1087 (2d Cir. 1975)
    …ounsel should have an opportunity to investigate the principles, and to consider the authorities connected with it, out of term, and unencumbered by the pressure of the current business of the Court. Hunter v. Fairfax, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 305, 305-06, 1 L.Ed. 613 (1796). Here the inability to prepare for trial would have made it difficult for Salley’s attorney to disassociate his client from the other defendants, or to discredit Government witnesses (even though they were not initially testifying against Sal…
  • Gandy v. State OF Ala., 569 F.2d 1318 (5th Cir. 1978)
    …09 F. 2d 1210, 1212-15 (3d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 946, 90 S.Ct. 964, 25 L.Ed.2d 127 (1970). . Gideon v. Wainwright, supra. . United States ex rel. Carey v. Rundle, supra 409 F. 2d at 1215. Cf. Hunter v. Fairfax’s Devisee, 3 Dallas 305, 1 L.Ed. 613 (1796). . See Shirley v. North Carolina, 528 F. 2d 819, 822 (4th Cir. 1975); United States ex rel. Lucas v. Regan, 365 F.Supp. 1290, 1292-93 (E.D.N.Y. 1973), affd, 503 F. 2d 1 (2d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 939, 95 S.Ct. 1149, 43 L.Ed.2d 41…

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