HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0276 and id is 1 raw text is: HALE V. THE LONDON UNION
be extended to foreign parts, but that, after the passing of the act, whatever might be
the case with regard to prior transactions, the former act should be deemed to extend
to British subjects and their acts, wheresoever being or committed; and at the end
it is carefully provided that nothing therein contained should repeal or alter any of
the provisions of the 5 G. 4.
It was contended, however, that, as the section purports to be enacting, and not
merely declaratory, it amounts to a legislative adjudication binding upon us, that
what was so enacted to be, was not previously the true construction of the 5 G. 4.
The proviso already referred to is a sufficient answer to this argument; and, although,
if the construction of the former act were open to doubt, the enactment of the latter
might be a considerable make-weight towards a decision, yet, as we consider the
construction of the former act clear, we are bound by the proviso in the latter act to
act upon that construction, notwithstanding it may follow as a consequence that the
latter act was unnecessary, except to remove for the future the possibility of a doubt.
Nor is this the first instance of an enactment extending, or professing to extend, the
construction of a former act to cases which the unaided course of judicial decision
might have brought within it. Another instance will be found in the 9 G. 4, c. 14, s. 7,
and the case of Pierce v. Arnold, 2 C. M. & R. 613.
[862] The true meaning of the 5 G. 4 appears to us to be to prohibit the trade
in slaves by all persons within the control of the legislature, including British subjects
all over the world.
Upon this construction of the act, the purchase of slaves by the defendants after
it passed, though before the 6th & 7th of the Queen, was rendered illegal by the
2nd and 10th sections of the former act; which, therefore, prohibited the holding of
slaves, and rendered the possession of them unlawful: consequently, neither the 5th
nor 6th section of the latter act authorized the sale, and it was a violation of the law
of England.
It is hardly necessary to add that the fact of the plaintiff being a foreigner'does
not authorize him to sue in the courts of this country for the breach of a contract
entered into by a subject, in violation of our laws: see Esposito v. Bowden, 7 Ellis
& B. 763.
It has been strongly urged upon us, for the plaintiff, that this contract of sale was
entered into under an order of the Lords Justices, for whose authority we entertain
unfeigned respect: but it does not appear that the matter was discussed before those
learned judges, nor that the order had the sanction of their deliberate opinion. And
the order in itself is no justification for an illegal act.
For the above reasons, without saying that there are not others, we are of opinion
that the contract of sale was unlawful both as to the parents and as to their offspring,
and that no action for its breach can be maintained.
Our judgment, therefore, is for the defendants.
Judgment for the defendants (a).
[863] HALE, Appellant; THE GUARDIANS OF THE POOR OF THE CITY OF
LONDON UNION, Respondents. July 9th, 1859.
[S. C. 29 L. J. M. C. 5 ; 6 Jur. N. S. 74. See Tynernouth Guardians v.
Blaclcworth Overseers, 1888, 57 L. J. M. C. 55.]
By the 81st article of the Consolidated Order of the Poor Law Commissioners, 1837,
it is provided that the clerk shall, four weeks at least before the 25th of March
and the 29th of September respectively in each year, refer to and ascertain the cost
to each parish in the union for the maintenance of the poor, and other separate
charges, as well as for the common charges incurred in the half-year of the last
year corresponding to the half-year next coming, and shall estimate, and, as near
as may be, divide amongst the parishes, any extraordinary charges to which the
union may be liable in the coming half-year, and he shall also estimate the probable
balance due to or from the parish at the end of the current half-year, and shall then
prepare the orders on the several parishes for the sums which, upon such computation,
it shall appear necessary for them to contribute to the expenses of the union for the
coming half-year, &.-And the 82nd article provides that the guardians shall
(a) An appeal is pending. [See 8 C. B. N. S. 86.]
A C. B. (N. S.) 82.
689](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0276&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)