Gros v. Bienvenu
Gros v. Bienvenu
Opinion of the Court
The defendant enjoined executory proceedings instituted to recover of her a balance due on the price of a slave named Maria, and her two children, Francois aged six years, and Joseph about two years, sold to her by the petitioner. She alleges that the latter, in the act of sale, warranted said slaves to be free from the vices and maladies provided against by law, but that in so doing he practiced upon her a gross fraud, as the slave Maria was addicted to drinking, had run away from him
The evidence adduced has not shown Maria to be addicted to drinking, nor to have been in the habit of running away, as that habit is defined by article 2505 of the Civil Code. It appears, however, that while she was in the possession of the plaintiff, who employed her at times in selling milk and ice cream in the evening, she did not, one night, return to her master’s house, and that, at his request, she was arrested by the city guard a. day or two after, and lodged in the jail of the Third Municipality, out of which she was taken by the plaintiff, who paid for her apprehension. It is not pretended that before or since this time, she ever left the service of her former or present master ; and a number of witnesses, some of whom have owned the girl, testify that she has always borne an excellent character. The appellant’s counsel has contended that there was fraud, on the part of plaintiff, in not apprising her of what Maria had done, and in stating to the broker, through whom the bargain was made, that she was a good girl, and had never run away. As Maria had committed but this single transgression, which, under the circumstances, and considering her general good behavior, the plaintiff did not perhaps regard as an actual running away, he might well have believed himself under no obligation to communicate it to the purchaser ; nor do we think that he was boundJo do it. In the case of Xenes v. Taquino et. al., 7 Mart. N. S. 678, we said that, “ unless the vice or defect of a slave was one which furnished a ground for redhibí
As relates to the child, Joseph, who died shortly after the sale, Formento, a physician, says that he was called to see him at the defendant’s house, in September, 1841, the very month in which the sale took place. That he found the boy in a state of marasmus. That he was so low that he could not tell what was the cause of his disease, but that the child must have been sick at least two or three months before he saw him, &c. From this portion of the testimony, coupled with that of the broker, it is clear that, at the time of the sale, the child was sick of the disease of which he died - shortly after. We cannot say that the judge erred, in fixing fifty dollars as a fair allowance for the child, Joseph, out of the $1250 given for the family. As he was then sick to defendant’s knowledge, and was very young, the value set upon, him must have been very small, in proportion to that set
Judgment affirmed,.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Felix Gros v. Rosalie Luperle Bienvenu
- Status
- Published