DECIDED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA, TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE ERECTION AND FOR- TERRITORY OF VIRGINIA. BY JOHN MARSHALL HAGANS. VOL. I. [THIRD EDITION.] FROM AUGUST TERM, 1863, TO AND INCLUSIVE OF JANUARY REPRINTED 1906. MORGANTOWN: THE ACME PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1906 Indiana University, Law Library 76556 7890 6475 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, for the State of West Virginia, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of West Virginia. PREFACE. THE propriety of a preface to a book of law reports is questionable, because it should be so prepared as to render apologies unnecessary, and from the nature of the matter no explanations are required. Yet the present volume should not be ushered into existence without a few general preliminary remarks. The sketch which is prefixed to this volume, whilst it is not designed to attain to the dignity of formal history, is deemed proper in order that the events therein recorded may not pass from the memory, and at the same time to provide some accessible memoranda, useful to the lawyer in his practice and convenient for reference by all. The main events of the movement which culminated in the establishment of the State of West Virginia, are arranged in the order in which they transpired, together with such extraneous facts as it is thought proper to give, that the reader may arrive at an intelligent conclusion on the whole subject. With what accuracy and faithfulness the duty (imposed by the court) has been performed, the public must judge. No pretension to infallibility, either in style or judgment, is claimed. Many of the cases reported were decided before the author was appointed to the position of Reporter, and some discrepancies may appear, yet it is hoped that none are so fatal as to mar the regularity of the general principles established, or interfere with a correct understanding of them. Some of the decisions settle novel questions arising under the anomalous state of affairs which existed during the continuance, and at the close of the late rebellion, as well as those arising from that character of legislation which is always called forth by the exigencies of civil commotions, and will be recognized by the profession as valuable precedents in which the grand principles of the science are confirmed. |