# Man Petitions Circuit Court to Have His Slave Ancestors Declared Free **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079 "2012-04-07T14:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/21 "2012-04-09T04:04:45Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Is it moot? Justice delayed is justice denied and all that. A chance to say that the stigma of slavery lives or some such thing to make it not moot? Courts exist to adjudicate live issues. They aren’t debating societies. For that we have legislatures. So, for example, if someone is accused of murder, but dies before the trial can occur, the trial doesn’t continue. The trial is to determine the fate of the accused, and if the accused is dead the trial is over. So, in a dispute between people who are long dead, the courts have no place. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/22 "2012-04-15T15:50:35Z")
Update: Judge Declares Man’s Slave Ancestor’s Free > **[Man's ancestors declared freed](https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/recent_news/mans-ancestors-declared-freed/article_593bca03-65cd-5366-98a3-04bd8d15b636.html)** > > HUNTINGTON — A local family found vindication for its ancestors Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court, connecting two generations born 150 years apart. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/23 "2012-04-15T15:57:46Z")
I don’t see anything wrong with having the government set the record straight. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/24 "2012-04-16T11:55:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I don’t see anything wrong with having the government set the record straight. I agree. Others are saying that the issue is moot, but I don’t think so. I contend that the stigma of knowing that your ancestors were chattel is one that continues to harm living people. As such, when there is a legal argument that an ancestor was illegally held, then a court should hear that. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/25 "2012-04-16T14:22:28Z")
I’m not sure I see the logic here. > [@](#): > > “It’s a relief, a burden off my heart,” Hale said. “It’s important for our family history to know our family was a free family and not slaves.” Why? Is slavery the fault of the enslaved? Should some stigma attach to the four million people who _were_ legally held as slaves, and to their descendants? The Hale ancestors were kidnapped and held as slaves illegally. Four million other people were held as slaves legally. Does this make the Hale ancestors any better or worse? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079/26 "2012-04-16T15:21:54Z")
I just don’t see the point. Okay, the kids were freed, then abducted back into slavery. There was a court case that was looking at the issue, but then not resolved. Were they supposed to be freed and not slaves? Yes. Were they slaves again? By fact, yes, even if they shouldn’t have been. I suppose it’s just something I cannot understand. I don’t see how it’s “an incredible piece of history for Wayne County”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-petitions-circuit-court-to-have-his-slave-ancestors-declared-free/618079.md?page=1)