Fordham Law Review Volume 71 Issue 3 Article 11 2002 Screed for a Film and Pillar of Classical Contract Law: Shuey v. United States Joseph M. Perillo Fordham University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Joseph M. Perillo, Screed for a Film and Pillar of Classical Contract Law: Shuey v. United States, 71 Fordham L. Rev. 915 (2002). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol71/iss3/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SCREED FOR A FILM AND PILLAR OF CLASSICAL CONTRACT LAW: SHUEY V. UNITED STATES Joseph M. Perillo* INTRODUCTION Few contract cases could provide a plot for a motion picture. However, Shuey v. United States1 provides more than enough raw material for an action film. As one commentator has written, "If it had been written as fiction, no one would believe it; the odd twists of fate in John H. Surratt's escape, capture, subsequent escape, and final recapture are too contrived for even the most gullible of readers. But the events of his sixteen months on the run, as implausible as the plot of a bad thriller, actually happened."2 The novel legal issue in Shuey is simple enough. Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War, had offered a reward of $25,000 for the arrest of John H.