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![handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0345 and id is 1 raw text is: MAHAN V. UNITED STATES.
Statement of the case.
MAHAN V. UNITED STATES.
1. Under article 4 of chapter xliv of the Revised Code of Ifississippi, which
enacts,
That no contract for the sale of any personal property. &c., shall be allowed
to be good and valid except the buyer shall receive part of the personal property
or shall actually pay or secure the purchase-money, or part thereof, or unless
some note or memorandum in writing of the bargain be made and signed by the
party to be charged by such contract orhis agent thereunto lawfully authorized,
a parol agreement for the sale of cotton in payment of a mortgage debt,
cannot be sustained, where, though the price of the cotton per pound
was fixed, the number of pounds was not definitely ascertained, nor any
payment was indorsed on the mortgage, nor any receipt given, nor any
memorandum in writing made, nor any present consideration paid, nor
any change of possession effected, nor any delivery, either actual or
symbolic, made.
2. Such a transaction would, from want of delivery, not be good as a gift
inter vivos.
APPEAL from the Court of Claims; the case as found by
that court, from the evidence, being thus:
One Mitchell, of Mississippi, being indebted to his step-
daughter, of whose estate he bad been the guardian, mort-
gaged, with his wife (the mother of the step-daughter men-
tioned), a life estate which the wife had in a valuable cotton
farm in Mississippi, near the river of that name; and soon
afterwards died. Mrs. Mitchell, his widow, became admin-
istratrix of his estate. In 1861 the rebellion broke out.
There were at this time one hundred and sixteen bales of
cotton on the farm; and the war being flagrant in Missis-
sippi, the Confederate general ordered all cotton near the
river, under penalty of being burnt, to be removed from it,
in order to prevent its capture by the forces of the United
States.
In compliance with this order, Mrs. Mitchell removed the
cotton to Kingston, near Natchez, where it was stacked and
covered. After the cotton had been thus removed to
Kingston, but before the capture of Natchez by the United
States forces, and before the passage of the Abandoned and
Captured Property Act, a parol agreement was made be-
Dec. 1872. ]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ussccases0345&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)