Doe on demise of Frances Howard v. Sarah Howard, et al.
North Carolina Supreme Court
51 N.C. 235 (1858)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
In 1818, while enslaved, Miles Howard married Matilda, who was also enslaved. The marriage took place with the consent of Miles’s and Matilda’s masters but without other ceremony and was celebrated in the manner usual among slaves. Miles was later emancipated and purchased Matilda. Miles and Matilda then had numerous children, including Frances Howard, but they did not take steps to formalize their marriage. In 1836, Frances and her siblings were emancipated by an act of the legislature. After Matilda died, Miles married a free Black woman in a formal ceremony, and the couple went on to have several children, including Sarah Howard (defendant). Miles died intestate. After Frances died, her representatives (plaintiffs) claimed to be tenants in common with Sarah and the other children born to Miles’s second wife with respect to property Miles owned during his life. Sarah countered that because Matilda was enslaved, Frances and the other children born to Matilda were illegitimate and could not inherit from Miles. Thus, Sarah argued that she and the other children born to Miles’s second wife were Miles’s only legitimate children and heirs. The trial court ruled in favor of Sarah, and Frances’s representatives appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pearson, C.J.)
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