State v. Jones

Historical collection note: this decision belongs to the earlier Delaware Court of Common Pleas, a colonial civil court abolished in 1831. It is distinct from the modern Court of Common Pleas first established in 1917. Official history: https://archives.delaware.gov/delaware-agency-histories/court-of-common-pleas/ ; https://courts.delaware.gov/commonpleas/history.aspx

Per Curiam.
The case of an appeal is very different from that of a writ of error. In the former the whole cause is removed out of the court below entirely, and it is as if no proceedings had there taken place. The witness must be rejected.

There was a count for an assault and battery, to which the prisoner’s counsel objected that an indictment for a simple assault and battery on a slave would not lie, inasmuch as a slave is a mere chattel. The Court appeared to incline to that opinion, but avoided deciding the point. They thought, in the present case, as the Negro claimed his freedom and had been many years in possession of it, the indictment will lie.