Carter vs. Bennett.-Statement of Case. 18th. Defendant then asked an instruction that plaintiff, to maintain trover, must prove as follows: 1st. That he had a right to the property claimed and was entitled to the immediate possession of the same at the time the action was commenced. Which was given. 2d. That plaintiff must prove a conversion by the defendant at or before the commencement of the action. Which was given. 2d. That no such property or possession can be maintained against a prior creditor of the vendor, Thornton or Jordan, unless such property or possession was obtained bona fide. Which was refused by the court, and written upon "Mixed with fact." 4th. That a possession obtained by fraud cannot be set up as a possession in which to sustain trover. Which was given by the court. To all of which several rulings and opinions of said court against defendant upon the questions of evidence, and refusals to charge and instruct, and alterations of instructions, defendant, by his counsel, excepted and prayed that his bill of exceptions might be signed and sealed by the court, which was accordingly done; and this constituted the defendant's first bill of exceptions. After the rendition of the verdict in this cause, the defendant's counsel moved for a new trial, on the following grounds, to-wit: 1st. The verdict is against the law, and against the instructions of the court. 2d. Against the evidence. 3d. Against the weight of evidence. 4th. Excessive damages. 5th. Verdict gives interest as well as hire and excessive valuations. 6th. Verdict exceeds the whole amount claimed and the Carter vs. Bennett.-Statement of Case. amount of all the slaves, as valued in the declaration mentioned, when plaintiff, at the trial, admitted, and the same was proved, the re-capture of sixteen of said negro slaves, and abandoned his suit for the same. 7th. The verdict is indefinite, in finding costs as part of the damages. 8th. The jury gave a verdict beyond the value of property proved by any evidence. 9th. Surprise in ruling out testimony by the court. 10th. Because plaintiff claims title through an act which it appears by his own oath, unexplained, was a felony in Georgia. 11th. Because no conversion was proved, and said verdict is in other respects unlawful and informal. Which said motion was overruled by the court, and a new trial refused, to which refusal and opinion defendant, by his counsel, excepted; and this constituted defendant's second bill of exceptions. And said motion for a new trial having been overruled as aforesaid, the said court adjourned until Tuesday, the 26th, at nine o'clock, the 24th being the Sabbath, and the 25th Christmas day, and on the opening of the court on Tuesday, the defendant, by counsel, moved the court in arrest of judgment, and that said cause be dismissed from this court, with the order to the clerk to transfer the papers to the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, or hold said papers and proceedings subject to any order of transfer or demand from said District Court, and upon said motion defendant's counsel showed to the court that this cause was instituted by a writ of which the following was admitted by counsel of plaintiff to be a true copy, as well as of the endorsements thereon, the original having been lost or mislaid: Carter vs. Bennett.-Statement of Case. IN THE NAME OF THE TERRITORY OF FLORIDA. To the Marshal of the Apalachicola District-Greeting. We command you that you summon Farish Carter to be and appear before the Judge of the Superior Court of Franklin County, at a court to be held in the city of Apalachicola on the fourth Monday of March next, to answer Archibald T. Bennett of a plea of trespass on the case, damages twenty thousand dollars, and have then and there this writ. Witness, George F. Baltzell, Clerk of our said Court at Apalachicola, this 17th day of December, 1842, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty-seventh year. (Signed,) GEORGE F. BALTZELL, Clerk. On which writ were the following endorsements: Archibald T. Bennett vs. Carter. Summons issued 17th December, 1842. Served by handing a copy to Farish Carter, December 17th, 1842. RICHARD J. YOUNG, Deputy Marshal, for The declaration and plea were then exhibited to the court, and the various entries made on the record of the Superior Court of Franklin County, prior to the third of March, 1845, as well as those made subsequent to the admission of Florida into the Union. Defendant then offered to prove that Farish Carter was, at the commencement of said action, and has been at all times since, a citizen and resident of the State of Georgia, which fact was admitted by counsel for plaintiff. Plaintiff then showed, by the evidence of William Valeau, clerk of this court, that after his election as such clerk, at the first state election, holden in 1845, he re Carter vs. Bennett.-Statement of Case. ceived from George F. Baltzell, the late Clerk of the Superior Court of Franklin county for the Apalachicola District, the records of said court, and all the papers in the said cause, which are now in court, and that said papers were by him filed, and so have since remained in this court. And the following order hereto appealed from the District Court of the United States, was served upon him, but he did not give up or surrender the papers, records and proceedings in these cases, or any of them: In District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of Florida. AT JUDGE'S CHAMBERS, St. Augustine, 29th March, 1847. Whereas, in and by an act of Congress, approved 22d February, 1847, entitled an "Act to regulate the exercise of the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States in certain cases, and for other purposes," it is enacted that all and singular the records of the proceedings in the several cases which were pending in the Superior Court of the late Territory of Florida, under and by virtue of the act of Congress of the 23d May, 1828, entitled an act supplementary to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private land claims in Florida, approved 26th May, 1830, and in the several cases which are pending in the Court of Appeals of the same Territory on the third day of March, 1845, and all and singular the records of the proceedings in the several cases in which judgments or decrees have been rendered in said courts, on or before that day, and from which writs of error could have been sued out, or appeals could have been taken, or from which writs of error had been sued out, or appeals had been taken and prosecuted to the Supreme Court of the United States, according to the laws of the Carter vs. Bennett.-Statement of Case. United States which were in force on the said third day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall, from and after the passage of the first above recited act of Congress, of the 22d February, 1847, be transferred to and deposited in the District Court of the United States for the District of Florida; And whereas, it is further enacted in and by the second section of the said act of Congress, approved 22d February, 1847, that it shall be the duty of the Judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Florida, immediately after the passage of said act to cause the same to be notified to the several Clerks of the Superior Courts, or to other officers or persons having in their possession or custody the records of the proceedings herein above refered to and described, and to demand the delivery of the same, to be deposited as above specified and required, and on the refusal of such clerk, or other officer or person, to comply with such demand, the said Judge is authorized and required to compel the delivery of said records, by attachment, or otherwise, according to law: And whereas, in and by a subsequent act of Congress, approved 23d February, 1847, entitled an act to establish a court at Key West, in the State of Florida, and for other purposes, it is enacted that the title and name of the said District Court of the United States for the District of Florida shall hereafter be "the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida." Now, therefore, in pursuance of the provisions of said act of Congress herein first above recited, approved 22d February, 1847, it is hereby ordered by the Judge of said. District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, that the Marshal of said District, either by himself or by any one of his deputies, be and he is hereby authorized and required to make known the afore |