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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0147 and id is 1 raw text is: GORDON V. BRUCE [1838]
the supplies furnished by them to the estate, to be applied to the mortgage debt of
£6734 16s. 9d. No costs of Appeal given.
[Mews' Dig. tit. MORTGAGE, B. 7 Of Colonial Estates, a. West Indies.]
ON APPEAL FROM AN AWARD OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF COMPENSATION
UNDER THE ACT FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
JOHN GORDON, Esq.,-Appellant; Sir MICHAEL BRUCE, Bart.,-
Respondent * [Feb. 19, 1838].
The Lessee of slaves entitled to claim a portion of the compensation money awarded
under the Act for the Abolition of Slavery [3 and 4 Will. iv. c. 73], in respect
of them, notwithstanding a Covenant in the Lease to refer to arbitration in
case of loss by the abridgment of the labour of the slaves, or diminution of
the returns of the Lessee, in consequence of any Act of Parliament, or Regula-
tion of the Colonial Legislature. The Act for the total abolition of slavery
not being contemplated by the parties, and not therefore within the meaning
of the clause.
Sir Michael -Bruce, of Stenhouse, in North Britain, was, in the year 1831, the
proprietor of two Sugar Plantations, called Shirvan and Telescope, in the Island of
Tobago, with the slaves settled upon and employed in the cultivation thereof.
In the month of August 1831, an Indenture was [262] executed by Sir Michael
Bruce and the Appellant, whereby the Respondent demised to the Appellant the
above-named estates for fourteen years, determinable at the option of the Appellant
at the expiration of seven years, upon eight months' notice given to the Respondent,
with power to the executors of the Appellant, in the event of his dying during the
currency of the lease, to determine the lease upon the like notice.
The Appellant covenanted, amongst other things, to receive over, feed, clothe,
and care for properly, in every respect, according to the laws and customs of the
Island of Tobago, all the slaves then being on the said estates. There was also a
clause in the said Indenture, in which it was provided, that if the power and
authority of the master over the slave should be further abridged, by &ct of Parliament,
or any Regulation of the Colonial Legislature, so as to lessen the labour to be obtained
from the slave, or otherwise to diminish the returns of the Lessees, then the loss
thereby sustained should be referred to arbiters, mutually chosen. By virtue of
this lease, the Appellant entered upon the estates, and continued in possession of
them.
On the 28th of August 1833, the Act 3rd and 4th Wm. IV. c. 73, was passed, intitled
An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for promoting
the industry of the manumitted slaves; and for compensating the persons hitherto
entitled to the services of such slaves.
Under the Act of Parliament and the General Rules issued by the Commissioners,
of Compensation -[see 3 Knapp, P.C. 266], a return was made, by which it appeared
that the number of slaves domiciled on the above-mentioned estates, [263] Shirvan
and Telescope, amounted to three hundred and one.
The Respondent preferred a claim as owner in fee simple to the whole of the
compensation-money payable in respect of these three hundred and one slaves.
The Appellant preferred a counter-claim in respect to the said slaves, in which,
after setting forth the lease and the possession thereunder, he proceeded to state,
that The legal effect of the agreement and possession thereunder, was to vest in the
said John Gordon an estate or interest for the term of fourteen years, from the 1st of
October 1831, in the said slaves, and to entitle him to their services during the con-
tinuance of the said term. But, by the Act 3rd and 4th Wm. IV. c. 73, the said John
* Present: Lord Brougham, Mr. Baron Parke, Mr. Justice Bosanquet, and the
Chief Judge of the Court of Bankruptcy [The Hon. Sir Thomas Erskine].
1004
II MOORE, 262](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0147&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)