[felony attaint]

Clark v. Sheriff of Van Diemen's Land

Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land
Pedder C.J., 9 July 1829
Source: Hobart Town Courier, 11 July 1829[1]

On Thursday an important case was decided before the Supreme Court. An action was brought against the Sheriff to recover a sum of money as the value of certain property which had been confiscated to the Crown, as belonging to a convicted felon. Robert Grant, who was executed for sheep-stealing some years ago, had made over his property in trust to Mr. Richard Clark, of Elizabeth street, previous to his trial, to be reconveyed in case of his acquittal, and upon this ground, we believe the action was brought, to recover the property so seized by the Crown. A verdict was given for the Defendant. We shall endeavour to give a full report of this trial in our next.

Notes

[1] It is by no means clear from the press report that this is the name of this case, but AOT SC 139/1 indicates that it is. At point was the legal position of attainted felons, those who had been sentenced to death for felony. For New South Wales cases on this point, see the many cases listed under "felony attaint" in the Subject Indices at www.law.mq.edu.au/scnsw.