Three Documents from a Long Running Lawsuit Over the Plantation Skerretts in Antigua

These documents, two manuscript and one printed, concern a dispute over the profit sharing due under a lease of the Skerretts plantation near St. John in Antigua. The lawsuit began in 1809; the last document here, an official handwritten report from the Court at Windsor (10 pages), referring the case for further proceedings, is dated nineteen years later, in 1828. The documents mostly have to do with the application of the law and contain little factual information about the specifics of the dispute. Perhaps the most interesting document is a manuscript copy dated 1826 of the rules and orders of the court in Antigua that were applicable to the case. This document, five pages, is signed and sealed by Samuel Athill, the commander in chief and vice-admiral of Antigua and nearby islands. The third document is a printed appeal, In the Privy Council. On Appeal from the Court of Chancery of Antigua. Between Clement Kirwan and Matthew Kirwan, appellants, and Nicholas Nugent, respondent. The Appellants' Case (London: Luke Hansard & Sons, 1825). 5 pages, folio. The printed appeal has old folds but is otherwise very good, with annotations throughout in ink; the Rules and Orders of the Court of Chancery in Antigua is very good, with the original seal and ribbon. The Court at Windsor document has three gatherings and is disbound, with tears along the folds.…