Hazlehurst v. United States

Hazlehurst v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided August 9, 1799
Full case name	Hazlehurst, et al. v. United States
Citations	4 U.S. 6 (more) 1 L. Ed. 717; 1799 U.S. LEXIS 244; 4 Dall. 6
Holding
orders of non prosequitur for failure to appear
Court membership
Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth Associate Justices William Cushing · James Iredell William Paterson · Samuel Chase Bushrod Washington

Hazlehurst v. United States, 4 U.S. 6 (1799), was an 1799 decision of the United States Supreme Court asserting that the appellants (several similar cases were combined) failure to appear in court regarding their writ of error resulted in SCOTUS issuing a orders of non prosequitur. The case was a federal case from South Caroline disputing their written seal on a bond which was purportedly improper because a wax seal was required.^[1]

Opinion of the Court

In error from the circuit court for the district of South Carolina. A rule had been obtained by Lee, the attorney-general, at the opening of the court, that the plaintiffs appear and prosecute their writ of error within the term, or suffer a non-pros.: but it was found, that errors had been assigned in the court below, and a joinder in error entered here. The rule was, therefore, changed to the following: " that unless the plaintiffs in error appear and argue the errors tomorrow, a non-pros, be entered." The plaintiffs not appearing, the writ of error was non-prossed, according to the rule.^[2]

References

1. The documentary history of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, Volume 8 (Columbia University Press, 2007), pg. 271-274 http://books.google.com/books?id=NDCWQKHAo_sC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
2. Reports of decisions in the Supreme Court of the United States: with notes and a digest, Volume 1 (Little, Brown, 1887), pg. 310