Notes from scanning the Mississippi Digest (1912) for court case precedents by date:

§ 85. Capacity la general.

(1822). There are four cases in which wit-
nesses are incompetent: 1st When the wit-
ness is insane or an idiot. 2d. When he is
an atheist, or does not believe in a future
state of rewards and punishment 3d. When
he has been convicted of an infamous offense.
4th. When he is interested in the result of
the suit— Phebe v. Prince, W. 131.

(1843). Where one of the boundary lines
of the tract was pointed out by the vendor,
and a statement made that it was an "open"
or unsurveyed line, and that its precise lo-
cation was not known, this must be consid-
ered as a statement of opinion as to the
boundary, and a mistake in it by which
twenty-five acres of good land, which the
vendee thought he was getting, was lost,
though the whole quantity of good land was
not decreased, is so immaterial, besides be-
ing a.so a matter of opinion, as not to jus-
tify a rescission. — Halls v. Thompson, 1 S. &
M. 443.

(1827). A plaintiff is not a competent
witness to sustain his account, by his own
account books. — ^West v. Poindexter, W. 303.

(1829). A will made by a married woman
is under certain circumstances good, and if
duly probated, it is operative till the pro-
bate is duly set aside; it cannot be attacked
collaterally by denying the executor's right
to sue for and recover her property. — Her-
rington v. Herrington, W. 322.

(1830). A plea alleging that the premises
of the plaintiff were not enclosed by a suffi-
cient fence, is not a defense to an action of
trespass, alleging that the defendant broke
and entered the close of the plaintiff, and
with his oxen, &c., destroyed and carried
off two hundred bushels of corn. — Miles v.
Myers, W. 379.

(1836). Where the claimant of land is thf
meritorious cause of the purchase being
made at a low price, and the advance of the
purchase money is made for his benefit, and
the deed taken in the name of the person
making the advance, as a surety for its re-



payment, a trust will result. Thus, J hav-
ing made improvements on public land, and
having an inchoate pre-emption right, it was
entered by P, who was ignorant of J's set-
tlement. P, in consideration of this, agreed
to let J have the land at the original cost
which was very low; J, not having the*
money, applied to R for a loan, who refused,
but agreed to purchase in his own name, and
let J have it if he would return the money
by a day stipulated, and the deed was so
made, P believing that J was to get the
benefit of the purchase, and being unwilling
to accept that price from another. Held,
that a trust resulted to J, who was entitled
to the land on paying the purchase money
and interest— Runnels v. Jackson, 1 H. 358.

(1839). Hearsay is not admissible to prove fornication.—Overstreet v. State, 3 H. 328, 1 Mor. St. Cas. 112.

§ 151. Work on road by taxpayers.

(1860). The owner of slaves who Is absent from home, leaving them in possession and under the management of his overseer, is not liable for the statutory penalty Imposed for a failure to work the slaves on a public road, when the notice to work was given to the overseer, and the owner had no knowledge of it till after the failure to work had occurred.—Cocke v. Copiah County, 38 M. 340.

(1844). It is actionable to say of another that he "has negro blood in him."—Scott v. Peebles, 2 S. & M. 546.

(1856). The marriage without the consent of his guardian of an infant of the age to contract marriage by law is valid.—Hargroves v. Thompson, 31 M. 211.

By Code 1857, art. 6, p. 332, the probate clerk is prohibited from Issuing a license for the marriage of males under twenty-one years of age, and of females under eighteen years of age, without the consent of the parent or guardian. In case he Issues such license without such consent first given, he acts at his peril, and becomes liable for the

statutory penalty, notwithstanding he may have been honestly mistaken as to the age of the party.—(1860) Detterly v. Yeamans,

(1856). The statute of this state (H. C. 492, also Code 1857, p. 331-2), which prescribes the forms and ceremonies In which marriages shall be solemnized, does not declare that marriages contracted not in conformity to its provisions, shall be void. Hence, if a marriage be solemnized in this state, between parties capable of contracting it by the common law, but without an observance of the forms prescribed by the statute. it will be good and valid.—Hargroves v. Thompson, 31 M. 211.

(1849). The cohabitation of a man and woman as husband and wife and their acknowledgment of each other as such, and the rearing of, and providing for their children and acknowledging them as such, are circumstances from which a marriage between them may be inferred, but they are not conclusive, nor are they the same thing as marriage.—Stevenson v. McReary, 12 S. & M. 9, 51 Am. Dec. 102.

(1848). When the time limited by the charter, in which a railway is to be finished, Is about to expire, and the charter declares that the franchise shall be null and void, unless the road be finished in that time, the assignment of the unfinished road, and all other assets of the corporation, 1st, to raise money to complete the road within the time, and 2d, to pay the debts, will not avail to validate the assignment, if it be otherwise objectionable In law.—Arthur v. Commercial &c. Bank, 9 S. & M. 394, 48 Am. Dec. 719.


The Mississippi Code of 1857 provides the following:
(1) Roadwork exemptions for ministers, college teachers and students, blind,
deaf, and dumb, disabled; otherwise, all whites aged 16-50, lsaves 16-60. for a max of 6 days in a full year.

There are fines levied to the justice of the peace for failure to perform road service or provide a substitute.

You could also be fined for:
Failure to repair high water damage, to pay for trees blocking the road, for hedges
that obstruct the road,

Overseers also required to put up mileposts and intersection signs indicating
nearest towns.
posted by Lloyd at 12:18 PM

From Shammas's book:

Author Calhoun, Arthur W. (Arthur Wallace), 1885-1979
Title A social history of the American family from colonial times to the present, by Arthur W. Calhoun .
Pub Info New York, Barnes & Noble, inc., 1945

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LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
General Coll HQ535 .C23 AVAILABLE

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The American family in social-historical perspective / Michael Gordon, editor Gordon, Michael, 1940-
New York : St. Martin's Press, c1978
LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
General Coll HQ535 .G66 1978 AVAILABLE

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American families past and present : social perspectives on transformations / edited by Susan M. Ros
New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2006
LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
General Coll HQ535 .A5853 2006 AVAILABLE
posted by Lloyd at 11:26 AM