University of Virginia Library

James Oldham
Lawsuit Against the University of Virginia

To the Honourable John Brown Judge of the Superior Court of Chancery holden of
Staunton--Humbly Complaining Sheweth unto your Honour your orator--James Oldham
That in January 1819, the General assembly of Virginia passed an act for establishing an
University by which it was enacted that on the Siete provided for the erection of the Central
College in the County of Albemarle, there should be established a University to be placed
under the Government of seven Visitors who should appoint a Rector of their own body, and
who should be a body Corporate under the Style and title of "The Rector & Visitors of the
University of Virginia"--The said Rector and Visitors were charged by the said act, "with the
erection preservation and repair of the buildings, the care of the ground and appurtenances
and of the Interests of the university Generally" They were authorised "to appoint a Bursar
employ a proctor and all other necessary Agents"--Soon after the passage of said act the
Governor and Council proceeded to the appointment of Seven visitors, a majority of whom
appointed Thomas Jefferson one of the members of their body, the Rector of the University
The said Rector and visitors employed a certain Nelson Barksdale as the proctor and made
arrangements for the erection of the necessary buildings at the Siete before mentioned--All
the visitors residing at some distance, and most of them being engaged in active
employments, they confided the superindence of the concerns of the University almost
entirely to the said Thomas Jefferson, who besides having devoted himself to that object
possessed extensive Knowledge and experience--Your orator being a house Joiner and
Carpenter and having seen an advertisement of the said Proctor in the news paper inviting
persons of that description to become undertakers at the said university addressed written
proposals to the Proctor who delivered them either to the board of visitors or to Mr Jefferson
in answer to which your orator on the 8th of April 1819 received a note from the latter
herewith exhibited marked A enclosing that marked B --The "Philadelphia printed prices"
mentioned in the said Papers which were constituted the rule of compensateors were
contained in a book published in 1812, by Matthew Cary, a Copy of which your orator will
exhibit if necessary-In the advertisement before mentioned the said Nelson Barksdale
referred to that Book as furnishing a rule of compensation and where the prices were not
directly applicable in terms, the Said advertisement Stated that the price was to be deduced
from the elements furnished by other articles in the book--This was the understanding of the
Contract as evidenced by the paper marked B --This contract comprehended the work
necessary to be done in your orators line to Pavilion No 1, and four dormitories which
occupied the interval between that Pavilion and Pavilion No 2--At a Subsequent period your
orator undertook to do the work at Hotel A--and nine Dormitories on the Eastern range on
the same Terms, And at a period Still later your orator undertook the work at Hotel AA--and
two dormitores also on the same terms--Your orator proceeded in the execution of his
Contracts according to their true tenor--He performed work to a large amount which is
enumerated in an account herewith exhibited as part of this bill marked ( C ) The
measurement of the work as stated in the said account does not depend on your orators
Knowledge, but he has taken it from the report made to your orator by the present Proctor
Arthur S. Brockenbrough, except a very small part which was measured and reported by
James Dinsmore who acted by the Authority of the said Proctor--The first work that was
measured was that done to Hotel A--The measurement was made by the said
Brockenbrough in your orators presence in October 1821--He made out a bill of the work
and certified it correct, with the prices annexed, which bill marked ( D ) your orator
herewith exhibits--When the said Brockenbrough commenced making out the said Bill he
asked your orator to be present--In conversing on the Subject it appeared that there was a
difference of opinion between him and your orator as to the application of the rule furnished
by the Book containing the Philadelphia prices as to part of the work. It led to a proposal
which your orator made, that in the adjustment of the accounts between him and the
University for the work which he had performed and was to perform except that embraced
by the said bill ( D ) all the Items relative to which Such difference of opinion Should exist
Should be Submitted to capable persons, one chosen by your orator and the other by the
Proctor--The said Brockenbrough objected alledging that Mr Jefferson to whose Judgment
deference was paid in all such cases was opposed to having the matter adjusted in that
way--In consequence of this remark your orator addressed a note to him on the Subject and
received his answer herewith exhibited marked ( E ) Mr Jefferson at the same time sent a
note to the said Brockenbrough in consequence of which the latter in a few days afterwards
Sent a note to your orator which your orator also herewith exhibits marked F --After the
receipt of the note of the 5th of November your orator repeatedly requested the said
Brockenbrough to measure your orators finished work, so that he might receive payment
according to his Said Brockenbroughs own advertisement of the 25 August 1821, which
your orator herewith exhibits marked ( G ) your orator was also desirous that an adjustment
by arbitrators as agreed on should take place as speedily as possible which could not be
done until the work was measured--But he was not able to effect any thing--on the 2 January
1822 your orator renewed his application and expressed his desire to have his work
measured his account adjusted and the money which might be due paid him--The said
Brockenbroughs answer was, that he would not do any thing with it--that your orator should
not have one sent untill it suited him--Your orator thus driven by necessity addressed a letter
to Mr Jefferson a Copy of which your orator herewith exhibits marked H In answer to which
your orator received the note marked I --Your orator also on the same day received a letter
from the said Brockenbrough herewith exhibited marked J --In this letter the said
Brockenbrough accuses your orator of remissness in not furnising a memorandum of locks
&c--which he however retracts in the endorsement on the back of the letter--It seems that
the said Brockenbrough considered your orators application to Mr Jefferson as insulting to
his dignity Such was not your orators intention--Though moving in humble life he
considered himself as a Citizen of the Republic entitled to Justice and when that was with
held from him by the "Agent" he supposed it to be his right to address him self to those who
"employed" him, He did not then, nor does he now, recognize in the proctor (who is wholly
irresponsable to the community) a Supreme power over his rights--Under these impressions
your orator wrote to Mr Jefferson the letter of the 3d of January 1822;--and his only object
was to obtain redress for grievance which he sincerely believed he Suffered--Soon after the
date of the letter before mentioned your orator was taken Seriously ill and remained
confined for about three months; this caused a Suspension in your orators efforts to have his
work measured and his accounts adjusted--*During your orators illness the said
Brockenbrough measured the work done by your orator on Hotel A--and nine Dormitories,
and made out two distinct bills which are contained in paper ( K ) herewith exhibited as part
of this bill--as soon as your orator was able to examine the said bills he discovered that the
said Brockenbrough had omitted a number of Items for which your orator was entitled to
compensation and on being stated by your orator the said Brockenbrough annexed them in
his own hand writing with out however affixing any price--These Items are contained on the
3 & 4th page of said paper ( K ) and are marked "Omitted" About the same time the said
Brockenbrough also measured other work done on the nine dormitories before mentioned by
John Harrow whom your orator employed and on that account a Separate bill was
necessary--The measurement and pieces were made out by the said Brockenbrough in an
account which is herewith exhibited marked ( L ) In June following the said Harrow having
done other work for your orator, it was also measured and a separate bill made out by the
said Brockenbrough, which your Orator also exbibits marked ( M )--In August 1822 the said
Brockenbrough measured certain other work done by the said John Harrow for your orator
on hotel AA--and two Dormitories on the West Street and made out a bill thereof herewith
exhibited marked ( N ) The said Brockenbrough afterwards proceeded with the
measurement of the remainder of the work done by your orator under his Contracts Your
orator having been Sufficiently recovered attended him and took notes, and at his request
made out the bills herewith exhibited as part of this bill marked [(] O. P. Q. ) In these bills
your orator at the instance of the said Brockenbrough annexed the prices according to the
agreement--that is, he added such prices as he believed were fixed in the Book referred to in
the Contracts--These three last bills were Submitted to the Said Brockenbrough for
examination who annexed a certificate to each imparting that they had been severally
examined--that the measurement had been found correct except in a few items marked X
and that the prices of the items marked thus--were correctly stated--By comparing the
account certified to be correct by the said Brockenbrough marked ( D ) with some of the
other Bills, it will be found that he affixed different prices to the same Kind of work. Thus in
that account he allows 1/6 per foot for 706 feet of Tuscan entablature--In the bill marked ( N
) he allows only 1/3 per foot for exactly the same Kind of work--In the same account D he
allows 45/ per square for "Secret nailed floors" and in the Bill L he allows 37/6 only for the
same sort of flooring--In the said account D there is allowed 2/9. per pair for 24 pair of
Architr[a]ve blocks in the bill marked O the same price is one of those objected to--There
are many other discrepanc[i]es in the acts of the said Brockenbrough--For instance, in the
bill made out in his own hand writing for work done at hotel A--he allows 6d per foot linear
of framing for putting up cornice--In the account made out by your orator marked Q the sme
charge is objected to by him, or rather it is among the Items not admitted--your orator will
not Swell his Statement with other instances of the discrepancies which exist He has
enumerated a few to Shew that he ought not to be bound by the determination of the said
Brockenbrough in the cases where he objects to your orators prices, When his own acts
proved Capricious disposition or a want of Judgment--Independant of the work before stated
your orator had some claims against the university for many expended &c--About the time
the bills for his other claims were under discussion he made out an account thereof and
submitted it to the said Brockenbrough--He made an endorsement thereon which together
with the said account your orator herewith exhibits marked R , After the controversy had
been narrowed by the said Brockenbroughs admissions in his certificates to the bills D. O, P
Q & R making out the other bills--and your orator believing that the remaining Subjects
could be settled by competent Judges at any place, your orator proposed to the said
Brockenbrough that as they both contemplated going to Richmond to Submit it to proper
persons, believing that very competent and disinterested persons could be got in that place
In answer to your orators note on that Subject he received one bearing date the 25 January
1823, herewith exhibited marked ( S ) in which the said Brockenbrough declined that
proposition, but still adheard Substantially to the agreement entered into in November 1821
to leave the contested Items to arbitrators. I proposed making the appointment of Arbitrators
while in Richmond In expectation that such would be the fact your orator made preparations
to meet him in that place--But about the 5th of February he received aletter from the said
Brockenbrough herewith exhibited marked T --in which he positively refused his assent
repeatedly given to appoint arbitrators--Thus after your orator had used every effort in his
power to have his accounts adjusted for more than a year he found himself defeated by the
said Brockenbrough rendering his power as a public Agent Subservent to his private
vengeance your orator is to have the means actually agreed on to have Justice done denied
him "in consequence of Some charges thrown out against him" by some person which he
believed to be your orator--Your orator being addressed thus rudely, did not think proper
then to obtrude any explanation upon the said Brockenbrough or to press a settlement of his
accounts--It is true he did not intend to Submit to "the fantastic tricks of those clothed with a
little brief authority" but he thought it better to permit the effervesence of anger to pass over
and then to pursue his amiable efforts to obtain his rights--In the month of March following
the said Brockenbrough forced the doors of Pavilion No. 1, to which your orator had the
Keys, and which he retained in order to compleat the Work, by fixing the ornaments in the
possession of the said Brockenbrough and which your orator could not obtain--The said
Brockenbrough employed an other work man M. F. Crawford, to do it and gave him the
ornaments The said Brockenbrough also employed his own hands being both Proctor and
Undertaker, to finish some work at Hotel A & hotel AA--which it was the right of your
orator to finish and which he would have finished had he not been prevented--In the summer
of 1823 your orator believing that the said Brockenbrough had personal hostility to him and
Supposing that through the instrumetality of another person he could effect an adjustment of
his accounts, procured Rice W. Wood Esqr. to assist him in his efforts--He went to the Office
of the said Proctor accompanied by the said Wood for the purpose of ascertaining what
course the said Brockenbrough intended to pursue in relation to your orators accounts--The
said Wood stated to him that it was your orators wish to carry into effect the agreement for
an arbitration as to the contested items in the account The said Brockenbrough answered,
that it was understood between him and Mr Jefferson that there Should be no
arbitration--This was repeated by him Several times--An[d] the said Wood renewing the
Subject and wishing a more explicit answer--the said Brockenbrough said that he was
directed not to arbitrate the business at the same time remarking that Mr Jefferson had told
him to do as he pleased, and your orator departed without being able to effect anything-Your
orator thus failed in his efforts, turned his attention for redress to the board of visitors--He
was advised that they constituted the Corporation who was responsible alone as a corporate
body to those who had contributed their labour or expended their money in the erection of
the buildings of the University, He believed that it was not only their right but their duty to
investigate the Conduct of their agents and to see that they did not employ the power which
they bestowed upon them to the purposes of injustice and oppression--under these
impressions your orator at the meeting of the board of visitors in October 1823 respectfully
addressed to them a memorial a Copy of which marked U --your orator herewith
exhibits--On the following day your orator received a letter from Mr Jefferson containing as
imparts the decision of the board of visitors on your orators memorial This letter marked V
--your orator herewith exhibits as part of this bill--When your orator received this letter he
was overwhelmed with astonishment He saw himself without the hopes of redress--He was
told that he must depend on the Justice of the exasperated man `who if he failed to do right
was amenable to the Courts of Justice' That he must depend on the individual responsibility
of him who when he came to the employment which he held was without property and
without credit--Though your Orator did not believe his case as hopeless as the answer of the
board of visitors represented it, yet wishing if possible to avoid a legal controversy he again
solicited Mr Wood to make application to the Proctor for an adjustment of his accounts--He
made several fruitless applications receiving nothing but equivocal answers--on the 20th &
23d of November 1823, the said Brockenbrough wrote the notes herewith exhibited marked
W. X. This closed the efforts of Mr Wood, though your orator afterwards made another
himself proposing again an adjustment by men mutually chosen which was again refused by
the said Brockenbrough--Thus your orator is compelled to resort to this Honorable Court for
redress, He believes that if a fair adjustment of the accounts takes place he will be found the
creditor of the University to the amount of about four thousand dollars out of which he has
been unjustly Kept for years--He contends that the Corporation composed of the Rector and
visitors of the University are responsible to him and not an individual in whose
responsibility he never confided and who by law has no contract of the funds of that
Institution--Your orator has in Vain endeavoured to ascertain by what law the Proctor is
made the "Executive Agent" and solely responsible for his acts--He is advised that by law
the visitors have power to employ a Proctor as their Agent--That the principals in all other
cases are liable for the acts of the Agents if within the Scope of their authority and that the
agents in such cases are not liable individually at law--He is moreover advised that the
Rector and Visitors being charged with the "erection" of the buildings are bound to do
Justice to those who erect them--by paying them what may be Justly due out of the means
confided to them for that purpose--your orator at various times received partial payments of
which he presumes an account has been Kept by the burser and which he is willing Shall be
credited on a settlement of the accounts--

In tender consideration of the premises and in as much as your orator can have no adequate
remedy at law--but is only relievable in this Honorable Court where complex and contested
accounts can be best adjusted and agreements Specifically executed To the end therefore that
Thomas Jefferson, Chapman Johnson, James Breckenridge, James Madison, Joseph Cabell,
John H. Cocke and Geoge Loyal, the Rector & Visitors of the University of Virginia and
Arthur S. Brockenbrough the Proctor be made defendants hereunto and that they may
Severally answer the premises as fully and truly as if the whole was again repeated &
interrogated--That the Items in your orators accounts not adjusted as herein before
mentioned may be settled as agreed upon by the parties in November 1821 by the
appointment of Arbitrators, and if that can not be done in the manner usual in this
Honorable Court--That the amount found due to your orator may be decreed to him with
Interest, and that such other and further relief may be granted to your orator as may be Just
May it please your Honour to grant your Orator the Commonwealths writ of Subpoena
directed &c--The following are Copies of the Exhibits referred to in the foregoing bill, to
wit,

Copy, ViU:UVA Chonological File, 13p, part of Oldham vs University of Virginia, with
docket "The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia &c James Oldham acct Bill &
exhibits (A Copy)".