[1] Elizabeth Jones owned a slave named Lydia and she hired her out for work to John Mann of Chowan County.
The judgment of the state supreme court was written by Judge Thomas Ruffin, who stated that "the power of the master must be absolute, to render the submission of the slave perfect", but said that slaves should have legal right of protection from persons other than their owners.
Ruffin, however, made it clear that his opinion was a legal one, and that his sympathy lay with Lydia.
He wrote that "the struggle, too, in the Judge's own breast between the feelings of the man, and the duty of the magistrate is a severe one, presenting strong temptation to put aside such questions, if it be possible.
Harriet Beecher Stowe cited State v. Mann as a source for her depiction of slavery in her novel Dred.