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and the original memorandum of sale with Capt. Kerr's receipt for the money paid accompanied these papers.

When the Government officers concerned in this transaction had been relieved from the duties they were then performing, suit was brought in the State Circuit Court of this District for the recovery of the boat by a man named James, who claimed it as private property.

The defence alleged, first, that it was not private property - the boat having been employed for several months in the Confederate service; and, secondly, that the U.S. Government having, through one of its agents, seized the boat, acquired a title thereby which it was beyond the power of a State Court to invalidate.

The defence admitted

(over)

that there was no evidence that the property had been judicially confiscated and condemned, but rested their whole title on the principle stated above.

Judge Rapier, who presided made the following points in his charge to the jury:

1. The plaintiff could not recover, if, at the time of seizure, the boat was the property of the Confederate Government.

2. But, if the boat was private property, a sale of it by a U.S. Officer was invalid, unless such sale was made in accordance with the laws and military orders of the United States, and that no authority had been brought to the notice of the Court by which private property could be seized and sold after the surrender of the Confederate States, without a formal judicial condemnation of it.

3. The sale of private property so seized was, therefore, illegal and void.

The jury having found for the plaintiff, the defendant presents this petition for the repayment of the purchase money, and, in my opinion,

(over)