STATE v. FARSON, 1 Del. Cas. 23 (1794)

Wilson’s Red Book, 21[*]

Court of Quarter Sessions of Delaware, Dover County.
Spring, 1794.

Case: The person assaulted was a white man, no other white person present at the time of the assault, but many Negroes. Prosecutor being sworn, defendant’s counsel offered a free Negro to be sworn under the Act, 1787, by way of redress, or exculpation and urged that this was not giving evidence against a white person. Bayard for the State objected, and read the cases of Collins v. Hall and th State v. Bender and urged that the latter was an express determination that the prosecutor is a party

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applying for redress; if so, the present prosecutor is a party, and, being white, a Negro cannot be sworn against him.

PER CURIAM.

Collins v. Hall does not apply here; the witness is inadmissible.

Verdict guilty.