Turpin v. Locket

I am nearly done with the first portion of my Bushrod Washington biography. This is the part that covers his career before he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1798. I am going to start to posting some items about my research that I think might be of interest.

Here's one nugget that I came across. In Turpin v. Locket, the Virginia Court of Appeals (the highest court in Virginia) found itself equally divided on whether the state legislature could revoke a prior grant of property to the Episcopalian Church. Why was the Court equally divided when there were five judges? Here is what the Court Reporter said by way of explanation:

The above case had been argued at a former term; and, during the succeeding vacation, Mr. Pendleton, then president of the court, and who sat in the cause, prepared his opinion in writing, (which the reporter has seen,) that the glebes belonged to the protestant episcopal church; and that the act of 1802, was unconstitutional. But the opinion was not delivered, as he died the night before it was to have been pronounced.

Yikes!