Rev'd Dr Helen Hall, Associate Professor, NLS https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/helen-hall
In a recent NLS blog, we heard from Prof Jane Jarman about the sad plight of Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, and pondered whether some timely legal advice might have saved him from eternal damnation. Not all contracts involving infernal spirits belong to the realm of fiction however, nor even to the age of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Dr John Dee. In 1883, the Supreme Court of Florida tackled a claim arising from a promise to conjure spirits.
The tragicomic facts of the case revolved around a woman named Mrs Magruder, who offered healing services. She undertook to doctor a sick man by summoning spirits, in return for a promissory note for $250, at a of 2% rate of interest per month. This was in an era when the average US worker earned around $832 in a year. The amount charged by Mrs Magruder vastly exceeded the fees of the most prestigious physicians in practice. Despite the premium demanded, the patient sadly died.
Meanwhile, Magruder had scampered off to Mr Livingstone, a local trader, who accepted the note in exchange for a stove, some horse-feed, and possibly more goods as well. By the time that the matter came to court, Livingstone was clearly concerned about appearing gullible, and may have downplayed the extent of the consideration (the quid pro quo part of the contractual bargain) on his side. Clearly, the plaintiff was embarrassed, but not to the extent that he was prepared to suck up his losses and go away quietly. He opted to sue the estate of the deceased man, and the court had to decide whether conjuring spirits could amount to good consideration.
Interestingly, the court found that the consideration failed, but not for the reasons that might be imagined. The judge did not rule that all questions involving the existence or nature of spirits were religious, rendering it unconstitutional for secular tribunals to adjudicate on such matters, in light of the separation between Church and State. Neither did they simply conclude that spirits in this context belonged to the world of superstition rather than faith, and dismiss the claim on that basis. In this era, a dismissive approach like this would have been entirely conceivable. just a few years later in 1895, a Canadian court was willing to confidently assert that a Spiritualist testatrix was deluded in supposing that she could communicate with dead relatives. Although from a 21st century perspective, it would be (almost) unthinkable for a judge in the US, Canada, or the UK to casually write off the profound beliefs of fellow citizens, it would have been perfectly possible in this era.
However, in this case, the Florida Court actually appeared to accept that Mrs Magruder had been at least attempting to conjure spirits, but asserted that these were necessarily Satanic in nature. Consequently Mrs Magruder’s activities infringed the laws against blasphemy then applicable.. A promise to commit of a crime could not be “good consideration”, meaning that there was no legally enforceable agreement.
As always, it is difficult to peel back the layers of judicial reasoning, and reveal the underlying motivation. Nevertheless, it does seem likely that the court was in part driven by a desire to spare the estate the burden of honouring the promissory note. There were serious questions about the mental health of the deceased at the time that he made the agreement, and the eye-watering amount of money demanded only added to the impression that he had been pressured or manipulated.
The court was faced with deciding which of the two litigants should bear the loss generated by the nefarious actions of a third party, and it is easy to see why their sympathy lay with the dying man and his family, as opposed to the trader. Livingston had been in a much stronger position to weigh up the risks and benefits in taking the note from Mrs Magruder, not being ill, frightened, and in pain. The scope for undue influence in relation to the sick man was manifestly obvious, whereas Livingston appears to have been swayed by the possibility of making a quick buck. We cannot know for sure what Mrs Magruder told him about how or why she received the promissory note, but he would certainly have seen the bottom line figure and noticed the interest chargeable. It is also likely that he was aware that Cooper was seriously ill, and by no means rich. Equally, Mrs Magruder and her services were apparently well known in the district. All things considered, it would not have required the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes to put the pieces together.
Whilst the neither the moral character, nor the intelligence of Mr Livingston were technically material when it came to the validity of a contract between Mr Cooper and Mrs Magruder, it was the venal and/or dopey trader who was bringing the action. It may well be that the court construed the consideration as blasphemous in order to see what it perceived as justice done. Of course, it is also very possible that it did indeed regard the activities of Mrs Magruder as a dabbling in the diabolical. This was a religious and cultural context in which conventional Christian norms and values held considerable sway.
Nevertheless, it is highly doubtful that Mrs Magruder herself thought that she was making deals with the devil. The record reveals very little about her life and character, although she must certainly have been both persuasive and resourceful. Her surname was of Scottish origin, but this tells us little or nothing about her ethnic and cultural identity or heritage. Conjure doctors and folk medicine were used by poor people of all racial and national communities, and their practices were a fusion of multiple influences. However, they did not tend to draw upon the Christian devil as a source of healing, because this made no sense in terms of the narratives about this figure. Stories in both the Bible and popular culture portray him as the Father of Lies, intent on deceiving human beings and dragging them down into a world of eternal torture. This is not the kind of character you invoke to soothe and comfort paying customers, or indeed wish to toy with yourself.
Therefore, the assumption that Mrs Magruder was summoning demonic spirits may been rooted more in the gender, class, and racial prejudice than anything that she actually said or did to convey that message. She may also have genuinely believed that whatever supernatural beings she trafficked with did indeed have the power to cure her patient, and that saving his life justified an exorbitant price. Equally, she might have been a cynical and opportunistic predator, taking advantage of a vulnerable person. Either way, she acquired a stove, some horse-feed and quite probably other goods besides , while Mr Livingstone gained nothing more than experience. The promissory note had evaporated in a puff of legal logic, like fairy-gold touched by the morning sun.
Related Articles
Jane Jarman “Faustus-Did you get a good lawyer?” NLS Blog (31 August 2023)
William Holmes “The Haunted Jurisprudence of Ghost Law” Legal Cheek (29 October 2021)
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