Read’s Notebook, 11.[*]
Court of Common Pleas of Delaware.
November, 1793.
[*] This case is also reported in Wilson’s Red Book, 10.
Evidence that plaintiff’s father in a merry humor and drunk gave the Negro in question to plaintiff, when a little girl, because she and another danced with him, and to the other he gave a feather bed which she never claimed or got, and at the same time put the negro boy’s hand into the plaintiff’s hand. This, it was said, perfected gift. 2 Str. 955, 2 Bl.Comm. 441. It was shown at the trial that drunkenness will not excuse a crime committed, nor will it make void a civil contract, unless the person is made drunk in order to deceive him or is some way cheated. Vide Bl.Comm.
Verdict for plaintiff, damages £30.
[NOTE.] What gifts are fraudulent: see 3 Co. 82.