{"petition":[{"petition_analysis_number":"20682115","petition_url":"https:\/\/dlas.uncg.edu\/petitions\/petition\/20682115","state":"Georgia","county":"Screven","location_type":"County","file_day":0,"file_month":0,"file_year":1821,"filing_court":"Superior","end_date_circa":"y","end_day":0,"end_month":4,"end_year":1822,"ending_court":"Superior","result":"nonsuit","enslaved_count":0,"fpoc_count":0,"total_people_count":2,"repository":"Screven County Courthouse, Sylvania, Georgia","abstract":"Luke H. Smith sues Doughlass Black for $2,000 in damages.  Smith claims to have maintained a solid reputation in the community and enjoyed the esteem of his neighbors until Black, within \"the presence and hearing of\" others, accused him of being a \"damned negro.\"  Smith claims that this accusation has severely damaged his reputation and standing in the community, and in his business affairs.  He sues for damages.  In his answer, a related document, Black contends that \"the words if spoken\" by him were \"at a time when he was an infant and under the age of twenty one, and not liable to be sued in this Court in his own name.\"","subjects":[{"subject":"Slander"},{"subject":"Passing as white"}]}]}