Thanks to Irvin who sent the definition of Demurrer which appears in several Supreme Court cases - it was not exactly what I thought. I am not abstracting these cases from the legal standpoint but from the genealogical standpoint. Guy is in the process of posting the ones typed up but there are a number still to go. Have to decide what is going to be kept for the HGS newsletter. Some of these are not Lenoir or Greene cases although some of them are linked to one of the two counties. There is one posted for Gates, a couple for Hertford, maybe more than one for Craven and one for Onslow. The weekly "what's new" http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/recent-uploads/recentuploads.htm does not always pick up the new files so I have discovered. Some will show up in this weeks new additions and some next weeks and some probably the week after. For Lenoir Co we have split out the Supreme Court Cases into its own file since there appear to be so many of them. Patty has spent this week working on her Lovick database which will be posted on Dobbers shortly based on one of these cases. That Will will be used for HGS first but not sure about the case. Peggy is trying to tie down the one Tull line that had not been proven based on another case but the census taker seems to have missed them. The Benjamin (Oxley) Sutton case needs to be slightly re-worded and the guesswork for some of the children are now proven. That Will has not been sent to Guy - waiting on two clarifications - but the cases were sent this morning. The cases vary in genealogical information or information of any kind. A few had nothing but the opinion of the court and it is difficult to know exactly what the case was. Some of the documents within the folders contradict other documents. Some of the cases make no sense whatsoever. Martha >From: "Irvin Bowen" <[email protected]> >To: "'Martha Mewborn Marble'" <[email protected]> >Subject: Legal Terms >Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:28:24 -0600 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4510 >Importance: Normal >X-Junkmail-Status: score=20/65, host=mr03.mrf.mail.rcn.net > >Martha, > >You wrote: "What is demurser and that might not be the correct spelling >but ran across >it in several cases >ie The Demurser of William Tull and Lemuel Tull two of the defendants etc - >my assumption is it is another word for declaration." > >The word is more likely to be "Demurrer." I am assuming that the time in >which the term was used is probably the first part of the 20th century or >earlier. According to the sixth edition of Black's Law Dictionary on pages >432 and 433 the term "demurrer," in essence, is an allegation by a >defendant that while the matters of fact alleged by the plaintiff in a >complaint or equity action may be true there is no sufficiency in the law >or any legal consequences to which the demurring party (defendant) is >required to answer or continue the cause (complaint or equity action). In >other words, the facts of the case may be true there is no legal ground >upon which the plaintiff can expect relief. > >There are a couple of websites, which offer free legal dictionaries: ><http://www.dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/>www.dictionary.lp.findlaw.com or ><http://www.dictionary.law.com/>www.dictionary.law.com. These websites >might also offer the information you need. There are other websites, if >you are interested, relating to the law and the state and federal court >systems, which would be useful for specific cases and/or opinions. > >If you need an attorney for legal questions as it relates to genealogy >research, Donn Devine, J.D., CG at ><mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] is another willing resource. > >Helping you is helping me. Thanks!!!!! I look forward to the next inquiry. > >Good luck, > >Irvin Bowen