The plaintiff, Jones, accused the defendant, Mills, of enticing from his service two free apprentice boys of colour who were bound to him by the county court. Mills argued that Jones had not properly adhered to an act of 1801 which required persons apprenticing children of colour to execute a bond stating that they would not remove them from the county in which they were bound. The judge instructed the jury that Jones had signed the indentures of apprenticeship and taken the boys under his care, and a stranger could not exploit any deficiencies in Jones's bond in order to remove the boys. The court found for Jones, and Mills appealed. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling, but ordered that Jones make good the deficiencies in his bond by giving the court 250 security against his removal of the apprentices out of the county.
