Bayard

va. Singleton, North Carolina. This was a suit for the recovery of certain property, tried before the Court of Appeals of North Carolina in 1787. The property in question had been confiscated and sold to the defendant under an act of the Legislature pa ed during the Revolution, authorizing the confiscation of property belonging to an alien. Counsel for the defendant moved the suit be dismi ed in accordance with an act of the Legislature of 1785, which ‘‘ required the courts in all cases where the defendant makes affidavit that he holds the disputed property under a sale from a commi ioner of forfeited estates, to dismi the case on motion.’ This the court refused emphatically and Judge Ashe boldly pronounced that act of Legislature ‘‘ unconstitutional and void.”” Judgment was, however, found for the defendant on the ground that aliens cannot hold land, and if they purchase, the land is forfeited to the sovereign. This is one of the earliest instances of a court’s pronouncing upon the constitutionality of an act of the Legislature. Ashe’s decision is therefore important. 68