Palmer v. Marston

Palmer sued Marston in the District Court of the parish of East Feliciana, upon a promissory note made by Marston to J. O. Fuqua, and by him indorsed to Palmer, dated October 1st, 1863, for $1687, and payable one day after date, with interest at the rate of eight per cent. per annum from date until paid. The defendant answered that $1000 of the note had been paid, and that $949 of it was a part of the purchase price of an African negro claimed to be a slave, and that the slave had been freed by sovereign authority, and that hence the note, to the extent of the amount last named, was null and void. The court held that, 'whilst the law remains as pronounced by the late Supreme Court in the case of Wainwright v. Bridges,1 and other cases, Fuqua, were he suing to recover the amount of the note, which is the subject of this controversy, would be defeated by this plea of failure of consideration. Therefore, the plaintiff must fail also.' Judgment was given for the defendant. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the State, and that court affirmed the judgment.