The heirs of the late George Smith charge that David Smith, executor of the deceased's estate, "has neglected and failed to charge himself with the value of the services of the said negro girl, Maria," a slave belonging to the estate. They explain that Smith stipulated in his will that Maria would "serve his wife until the said negro girl arrived at the age of thirty five years," in 1858. If Mrs. Smith should die died before the expiration of Maria's term of servitude, then David Smith "should take her himself, and have her time for the term of her services valued, and account therefore as Executor." Mrs. Smith died in June 1852 and her estate has been settled. The petitioners charge that David Smith has failed to compensate the estate for Maria's unexpired term in his account and they request "that the said account may be opened" so that the error may be corrected. David Smith answers that Maria was eventually sold to a domestic slave trader, preventing him from accounting for her services. The Court of Appeals issued an opinion that expressed "our condemnation of the contrivance, by whoever made, to deprive a helpless negress of the freedom to which she was entitled by her masters will. Such conduct was not only a gross fraud, but ought to be visited with the severest penalties of the criminal law."
Result: Dismissed; appealed; reversed; remanded.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
