Patton v. Nicholson

ERROR to the circuit court of the district of Columbia for the county of Alexandria. The plaintiff in error declared in assumpsit for that the defendant, &c. was indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of 750 dollars for a certain document or paper called a Sawyer's License by the plaintiff, &c. sold and delivered to the defendant, &c. and being so indebted, the defendant, &c. afterwards, &c. promised, &c. Plea non-assumpsit. Evidence was offered to the jury to show that both parties were citizens of the United States, and that the license in question was sold by the plaintiff to the defendant in Alexandria, to be used for the protection of the schooner Brothers, an American vessel, during the late war, against enemy's vessels, on a voyage from Alexandria to St. Bartholomews, to be cleared out for Porto Rico. The license was as follows: