TEI Header ---------- File Description Title Statement Title: A Complaint of Trespass: DeLancey vs. Woodin: A Digital Edition Author: Uncredited Recorder Principal: David Badke Responsibility: Creation of machine readable text by David Badke; Header creation by David Badke; Encoded by David Badke. Edition Statement First TEI encoded edition Publication Statement Publisher: University of Victoria Place: Victoria, British Columbia Date: August 1, 2004 Availability: Copyright 2004 by David Badke. This text is freely available for non-commercial use provided the text is distributed with the header information provided. Notes Statement Sworn in 1803, this complaint of trespass by James DeLancey against William Woodin follows the first (unsuccessful) suit by DelLancey (1800-01) to regain possession of the slave named Jack, as described in the pamphlet Opinions Of Several Gentlemen Of The Law, On The Subject Of Negro Servitude, In The Province Of Nova-Scotia (1802). In the complaint, DeLancey seeks damages in the amount of 500 pounds. [David Badke, August 2004] Source Description Title: A Complaint of Trespass: DeLancey vs. Woodin Author: Uncredited Recorder Publisher: Supreme Court of Nova Scotia – Annapolis County case files Place: Nova Scotia Date: August 20, 1803 Note: Original text is from the archives of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court - Annapolis case files fonds, reference number RG 39 C (AP) vol. 1 file 2. The transcription was made from a digital image copy the text found at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/africanns/archives.asp?ID=99. Encoding Description Project: The encoded document is an offshoot of a summer work project conducted by the Special Collections department, McPherson Library, University of Victoria to digitize the printed text. Editorial - Normalization: The spelling from the original text has been retained. Editorial - Quotation: Single quotation marks (apostrophe) have been retained.Double quotation marks have been replaced with markup (the [q] tag). Editorial - Standard Values: Dates marked with the [date] tag have a [value] attribute with the ISO standard yyyy-mm-dd date. Editorial - Interpretation: Biographical, terminological and editorial notes added in the [back] section. These are linked to tagged names via the [key] attribute and to tagged references via the [target] attribute.All tagged personal names have been expanded (where known) and regularized in the [reg] attribute. Tag usage: [del] Used to mark authorial deletions in the text. Classes: [lcsh] Library of Congress Subject Headings; [nssc] Nova Scotia Supreme Court - Annapolis case files fonds, reference number Profile Description Language usage: [en] Canadian English, 19th century, legal Keywords: Slavery--Law and legislation--Nova Scotia.; Blacks--Nova Scotia--History. Class code: [nssc] RG 39 C (AP) vol. 1 file 2 Revision Description Change 1 Date: August 8, 2004 Responsibility: David Badke Items: First public release on the Web. =========================================== Nova Scotia Sup Court at Annapolis Michaelmas Term in the forty third year of the reign of King George the third ? Annapolis / James DeLancey complains of William Woodin in Custody ? of a of a plea of trespass on the Case, to that whereas one Jack a Negro man, on the first day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred at Annapolis, in the County of Annapolis aforesaid was lawfully retained in the service of the said James DeLancey as his slave and servant, to serve him the said James DeLancey, for and during the natural life of the said Jack, and while the said Jack was so retained in the service of the said James DeLancey as a slave and servant aforesaid, towit, on the twenty sixth day of May, in the year aforesaid at Annapolis in the County of Annapolis aforesaid wilfully and without the leave or licence and against the will of the said James DeLancey departed and absented himself from and left the service of the said James DeLancey and went in to the service of the said William Woodin. Yet the said William Woodin well knowing the said Jack to be the slave and servant of the said James DeLancey, and to have been, and to be so retained by the said James DeLancey as a slave and servant, but contriving to injure the said James DeLancey and to deprive him of the benefit and service of the said Jack his Slave and Servant aforesaid, did on the same day and year aforesaid at Halifax, that is to say, at Annapolis in the County of Annapolis aforesaid receive and harbour the said Jack, and did then and there keep and employ the said Jack in the service of him the said William Woodin and wholly refused to deliver him to the said James DeLancey Page 2 his master, altho requested so to do and unlawfully detained, entertained and kept the said Jack, so then being the Slave and Servant of the said James DeLancey, in the service of him the said William Woodin, for a long time, towit, from the said twenty sixth day of May in the year last aforesaid, until the day of the filing the bill of the said James DeLancey, towit, the twenty day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three at Halifax, that is to say at Annapolis in the County of Annapolis aforesaid, whereby the said James DeLancey during the whole time aforesaid, lost not only the service of the said Jack his Slave and Servant, but also many great profits, and advantages which he might have had, and gained, if the said William Woodin had not received, retained and employed the said Jack in his service aforesaid. — And whereas the said William Woodin on the said twenty sixth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, at Halifax, that is to say, at Annapolis, in the County of Annapolis aforesaid received into his service one other Jack, a negro man, then the Slave and Servant of him the said James DeLancey and knowing the said Jack to be the Slave and Servant of him the said James DeLancey, and kept and detained the said Jack from the said twenty sixth day of May, in the year aforesaid, until the day of the filing of the bill of the said James DeLancey, towit, the twentieth day of August, in the said year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three, at Halifax, in the County of Halifax that is to say, at Annapolis, in the County of Annapolis aforesaid, against the will and consent Page 3 of the said James DeLancey, and hath refused, and still doth refuse to deliver the said Jack to him the said James DeLancey, altho so to do, the said William Woodin, afterwards towit on the twenty third day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred at Halifax, that is to say, at Annapolis, in the County of Annapolis aforesaid, and often since, by the said James DeLancey hath been requested : by which the said James DeLancey during the whole time aforesaid lost not only the services of the said Jack his Slave and servant, but also also many great profits and advantages which he might have had and gained, if the aforesaid William Woodin had not received and kept the aforesaid Jack into his service : wherefore the said James DeLancey says he is injured and hath sustained damage in the value of five hundred pounds and therefore he brings suit to? Via? Tho Ritchie Atty ? to prosecute John Doe & Richard Row? Annapolis / James DeLancey ? in his place Thomas Ritchie his Attorney William Woodin in a plea of trespass in the Case.—