Joseph Story

“ Upon the argument in this Court, various important questions have been elaborately discussed by counsel, upon which we forbear to express any opinion, as our judgment of reversal proceeds upon a ground, which renders any decision on them unnecessary. ”

“ It is this: whether the contract of the 7th of June, 1820, between Col. Gadsden, as agent of the War Department, and Samuel Hawkins, was ever a consummated agreement, binding on the United States, in virtue of an original authority given to him, or was a preliminary agreement dependent for its validity upon the ratification of the War Department; and if that was withheld, (which there was direct evidence to prove,) the agreement was a mere nullity. The bill of exceptions does not in terms find, that the agreement was such a consummated agreement. ”

“ The Court is supposed to have charged the jury, that the matters produced and read in evidence on the part of the defendants were sufficient in law to maintain the issue on their part, and that the jury ought to render their verdict in favour of the defendants. This charge can be maintained in point of law only upon the supposition, that the evidence presented no contested facts; for otherwise it would withdraw from the jury their proper functions, to determine the facts upon the evidence in the cause. ”