To Thomas Jefferson from Dabney Carr, 19 May 1804
From Dabney Carr
Charlottesville: May 19th 1804
Dear Sir.
You requested that I would get a copy of the costs in the qui tam vs Johnson—I suppose you wanted only Johnson’s costs—they amount to fifty one dollars, & twenty one cents.—Johnson has applied to me to day on the subject, & I told him that I should write to you immediately & expected that you would make arrangements to pay him the money in a very short time
All your friends in this quarter are well.
yrs &C
D Carr
RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); endorsed by TJ as received 22 May and so recorded in SJL.
TJ had lost a qui tam action, in which a private individual charges another with violation of a statute under the expectation that any fines would be divided between the plaintiff and the state, against Richard johnson, who had sued TJ for possession of a 100-acre portion of land that TJ also claimed. TJ was ultimately successful in retaining possession of the land (, 2:1003; Vol. 29:42-3; Vol. 32:418-19; Vol. 40:342n; Statement on the Legal Action against Richard Johnson, 21 May; Edmund Randolph to TJ, 16 Sep. 1804).