| Appeals to the Privy Council |
| Report No. JAM_1780_02 |
|
Jamaica |
| Case Name Long |
John Parkinson v Thomas Parkinson, John Myrie, George Robert Goodin, and Thomas Harrison, Attorney General | |
| Case Name Long |
John Parkinson, John Myrie, and George Robert Goodin v Thomas Harrison, Attorney General |
Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series |
| APC Citation | v.5 [378] p.479 (20 March 1780 – 30 April 1783) |
| PC Register Citation | George III v.18 (March 1780 – Dec. 1780) p.36–37, 50: PC 2/125/36–37, 50 |
| PC Register Citation | George III v.20 (Oct. 1781 – Sept. 1782) p.306: PC 2/127/306 |
| PC Register Citation | George III v.21 (Oct. 1782 – Dec. 1783) p.235–242, 249–250: PC 2/128/235–242, 249–250 |
Colonial Courts |
|
Chancellor – 8 April 1778 and 20 Jan. 1779 Grand Court – May 1779 Court of Appeals – 29 Dec. 1780 |
Participants |
|
Dalling, Governor [John] |
|
Douglas, Fanny, slave (mother of natural sons of George Williams) |
|
Douglas, Quasheba (or Queen), slave (mother of natural sons of George Williams) |
|
Goodin, George Robert, respondent/appellant (executor of George Williams) |
|
Harrison, Thomas, attorney general, respondent |
|
Haughton, Samuel Williams |
|
Myrie, John, respondent/appellant (executor of George Williams) |
|
Parkinson, John, esquire, of London, appellant (executor of George Williams) |
|
Parkinson, Thomas, respondent, later deceased |
|
Webb, Jenny |
|
Welsh, Richard, chief judge of the Grand Court |
|
White, Hugh |
|
Williams, George, deceased (father of natural sons by Quasheba and Fanny Douglas) |
Description |
Concerning a will. |
Disposition |
Both appeals dismissed without costs. |
Notes |
According to entries in the Privy Council’s register, Quasheba (aka Queen) was a “Negro woman slave” and the mother of six sons of George Williams. Fanny Douglas, a “mulatto woman slave,” was the mother of another son. The status of Jenny Webb is not given. The unfortunate outcome in this case may explain the 1783 Private Act by Martin Williams, likely brother of George Williams, to have his children by Eleanor Williams, a “free Negro woman,” given the “rights and privileges of English subjects under certain restrictions.” See the Table of Private Acts in Jamaica Laws, 1760–1792. Catterall, Judicial Cases Concerning Slavery, 5:352–353, has a summary of the arguments in Grant, Jamaica Cases (see Other Documents). |
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DOCUMENTATION |
Printed Cases |
Not found |
Privy Council Documents in PC 1 at The National Archives at Kew |
Not found |
Other Documents |
| Other Documents | Some of the actions below are reported in Notes of Cases Adjudged in Jamaica, May 1774 to Dec. 1787 (Edinburgh: Adam Neill and Company, [1794]) (reported by John Grant, esq., late chief-justice of the Grand Court of Jamaica), p.34 (May Grand Court 1777, on motion for attachment for contempt, rule nisi granted). | ||
| Library | Ames Foundation: (1 page) (Source: Harvard Law School Library through the Harvard Library Viewer) |
| Other Documents | Id. at 38 (Nov. 1777, on rule nisi made absolute). | ||
| Library | Ames Foundation: (1 page) (Source: Harvard Law School Library through the Harvard Library Viewer) |
| Other Documents | Id. at 50–58 (6 March 1779, arguments of counsel, overruling of demurrer by a vote of 3-1 on 9 June, and Grant’s opinion [carried over in the margin of 57–58] given). | ||
| Library | Ames Foundation: (9 pages) (Source: Harvard Law School Library through the Harvard Library Viewer) |