Francis E. Price asks the court to ascertain and define "her rightful authority" as to her sole and separate property. Price reports that she "entered into an ante nuptial contract" before marrying her husband, Henry M. Price. She informs the court that she believed "her rights & powers thereunder" included selling and disposing of her slave property. Consequently, she admits that she sold two slaves, one of whom was an eight-year-old boy, who yielded "her no profit, & from whom but little could be expected for some years." Price now notes that the trustee has approached the purchasers of the said two slaves and has "threaten'd to seek the recovery from them of sd slaves, upon the ground that some irregularity was pursued by your Oratrix, or some matter of form neglected in the disposition of sd slaves, not altogether sanctioned by the provisions of said deed of settlement." The petitioner prays that "the Court would, by its decree ... fully sanction & confirm the sales of the said slaves ... and quiet the respective titles thereto" and that "the Court would interpret & declare the rights & powers of your Oratrix, during her coverture, to & over her separate estate secured to her under said trust and marriage settlement."
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
