Supreme Court of the United States, 1821

The Supreme Court denied Virginia's motion to dismiss a writ of error brought by the Cohens, who had been convicted in Norfolk for selling District of Columbia lottery tickets in violation of a Virginia statute, and affirmed the judgment.

The Court held that although the evidence established that the Tenederah conveyance was subject to a trust, the trust was presumed extinguished after approximately forty years, the death of the original parties, and circumstances indicating that the grantor had accepted the land's value.