THE REPORT OF AN ACTION OF ASSAULT, BATTERY AND WOUNDING, TRIED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK, IN THE TERM OF OCTOBER, 1764, BETWEEN THOMAS FORSEY, PLAINTIFF, AND WADDEL CUNNINGHAM, DEFENDANT.
New York: Printed by John Holt, 1764. 4to. Disbound with scattered spotting. The complete copy is paginated [2], iv, 68 pp. Our copy lacks the half title, half the title leaf [which obliterates 'The Report...Tried'], and the final page [title page and final page supplied in facsimile]. Else Good+.
The case is significant for its assertion of the primacy of the jury system in colonial America. Publication occurred to emphasize to New Yorkers "the pernicious Consequences" of British interference with local juries "by a Method entirely new, unconstitutional and illegal."
Forsey had sued Cunningham for an assault and battery; a jury of their peers found for Forsey and assessed damages against Cunningham. Unhappy with the large amount of damages, Cunningham sought an appeal. He did not claim that the trial court committed any errors of law; he simply argued that the jury had misconstrued the facts. Allowing the appeal would have diminished the role of the jury in favor of appellate judges' assertions of their royal prerogatives. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Governor Cadwalader Colden permitted Cunningham to appeal. New Yorkers in 1764, already angered by British control of local affairs, found this interference with the role of the jury intolerable. They challenged Colden's decision to allow the appeal; in late 1765 the New York Assembly agreed.
Shipton & Mooney 41438. Bristol B2464. NAIP w021834 [6, including the AAS copy, which is defective]. Cohen 11975. Item #27759
Price: $450.00