Tate v. O'Neal et al.
North Carolina Supreme Court
8 N.C. 418 (1821)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
Tate (plaintiff) brought an action against O’Neal and others (defendants), members of a duly appointed slave patrol, for beating Tate’s slave. Members of the patrol encountered Tate’s slave away from Tate’s premises and asked for a pass or permit from his master. Tate’s slave did not respond. After conferring among themselves, the members of the patrol stripped the slave, confined him to a whipping post, and administered 15 lashes. One witness testified that there was animosity between Tate and one of the members of the patrol. The court instructed the jury that if it found the whipping to be so excessive as to manifest that it was inflicted for the purpose of gratifying malice against the slave’s owner and not for the purpose of executing the law, then the jury should rule in favor of Tate. The jury returned a verdict for O’Neal and the others, and Tate appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
What to do next…
Here's why 830,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
