At a Court held in Fort Willem Hendrick, on the 5th of July, 1674.
Deft. remaining for the third time in default and presenting an apologetic petition, it is ordered that in case Deft. shall neglect taking up at the Secretary's office copies of the papers and answer finally on the next Court day. he shall be pronounced contumacious.
Pltff. alleges that Deft. hath taken a false oath, making two different affidavits in the case of the land in dispute between the appellant and the Town of Huntington; first, declaring that he paid for the land in question, and afterwards saying that he only meant the valley and grass; therefore requests that the judgment of the deputed Councillors, dated last, pronounced at Jamaico, may be annulled and Deft. be declared a perjurer and condemned in the costs.
Deft. appearing by his Attorney, Mr. Waters, persists in his declaration made before the deputed Council, and requests that Pltff. shall be condemned to pay Deft. all costs and damages for this illegal persecution.The Governor-General and Council of New Netherland having heard parties and examined the produced declarations of the Deft., and other papers and documents pertinent to the case, find said judgment of deputed Councillors to be valid and legal, it is hereby approved, and the appellant condemned in the costs incurred herein.
The Appellant rendering his complaint in writing, represents that 'twas not he but the Deft. who was the first author and instigator of the quarrel between them, and that his first witnesses are still ready to confirm, on oath, their original declarations; therefore maintaining that, for this and other reasons more fully inserted in his petition of appeal, the judgment of the Court of this city, dated the 16th of June last, ought to be annulled, and the conclusion adopted by the Appellant in his action be adjudged in his favor.Deft. denies having been the author of the quarrel; requests that the produced declarations be examined and investigated, and persists further in his demand and conclusion taken in the first instance, &c.The Governor-General and Council of New Netherland having seen and read the documents, papers and exhibits produced by parties, and the witnesses on both sides being summoned to Court and again examined, and further having observed, weighed and pondered over whatever was material, decide that both parties are to blame; therefore, the judgment pronounced by the Court of this city, in the case aforesaid, is hereby annulled, and administering justice de novo, in form as it ought to have been done in the first instance, condemn both parties, each in a fine of twenty-five guilders, in Beavers, to be applied, one half for the Schout and the other half for the Church; with equal share of the costs incurred herein.
