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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

JAY TO MRS. JAY. - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 3 (1782-1793) [1891]

Edition used:

The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston, A.M. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890-93). Vol. 3 (1782-1793).

Part of: The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols.

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JAY TO MRS. JAY.

Richmond, 29th May, 1793.

My Dear Sally:

The court is still sitting, and there is no probability of my leaving this place in less than ten days, if so soon. Much business remains to be done, and I cannot conjecture how much time it may take to finish it. One single cause has hitherto employed us, and it will not be finished, I fear, this week.1 I mention these things to prevent your looking for me at too early a day. . . .

Yours affectionately,

John Jay.

[1 ]This doubtless was the case involving the question whether British debts were recoverable in Virginia under the Treaty of 1783, where acts of that State, passed prior to the adoption of the Constitution prohibited their recovery. The judges—Jay, Iredell, and Griffin—held that the debts were obligatory. On one point they disagreed—“whether payments already made into the loan office (by defendants) were not complete bars to the plaintiffs’ action for so much as was paid.” Jay held for the plaintiffs and his associates for the defendants.