Philip Norborne Nicholas, Attorney General of Virginia v. Richard C. Anderson

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Kentucky. This was a bill in equity, filed by, and in the name of the Attorney General of Virginia, under the authority of a special act of the Legislature of that State, passed on the 15th of February, 1813. The bill charged, that the Legislature of Virginia, by an act passed in October session, 1783, among other things, provided, that all persons holding officers' or soldiers' warrants by assignment, should pay down to the principal surveyor, at the time of the delivery of such warrants, one dollar for every hundred acres thereof, exclusive of the legal surveyor's fees, towards raising a fund for the purpose of paying all contingent expenses, &c. as will appear by reference to the act. That the deputations of officers, in pursuance of the said act, appointed two principal surveyors, one of whom was the defendant, and who immediately took upon himself the duties of the office, and exacted, in virtue of the act of 1783, from all the holders of the military warrants, the one dollar per one hundred acres above provided for. That the defendant had received a large sum of money in this way, and had refused to account for the same to the complainant, and the agents and attorneys appointed for this purpose under the act of 1813. It further charged a misapplication of the money; and that the deputations of officers, under the act of 1783, did appoint superintendants, &c. but that most of them are long since dead, and the survivors have declined to act for many years. It proceeded to state the substance of the act of 1813, which authorized Colonel John Watts, the surviving superintendant, agent to settle with the defendant, and to receive the moneys remaining unappropriated in his hands, and if not paid, to sue for, and recover the same, in the name of the Attorney General of Virginia; and then charged, that the defendant refused to account with Watts, and concluded with a prayer for an account, discovery, and general relief. To this bill the defendant demurred; and the Circuit Court of Kentucky, upon argument of the demurrer, held it valid, and dismissed the bill. The cause was then brought by appeal to this Court. Feb. 13th.