State v. Watkins

Summary

The Tennessee court considers whether an indictment alleging the forcible taking of an enslaved person from the field and possession of the owner sufficiently charged a breach of the peace. Relying on prior Tennessee and North Carolina decisions, the court holds that the indictment alleged only a trespass and lacked the required allegations concerning the owner's presence and actual possession, affirming the quashing of the indictment.

Holdings

1. An indictment alleging that the defendant forcibly took a slave from a field and from the owner's possession, without alleging facts constituting a breach of the peace, charges only a trespass and does not state an indictable offense.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an indictment alleging that a defendant forcibly took a slave from a field and from the possession of the owner sufficiently alleged a breach of the peace and an indictable offense.
2. Whether the indictment was legally sufficient when it failed to allege that the taking occurred in the owner's presence and from the owner's actual possession.

Disposition

affirmed