In 1860, Ben Hall had what may have been his first encounter with the legal system, when Ben Hall's good friend Daniel Charters was summoned to appear at the Burrowa court over an outstanding matter of a horse payment and where for Charters, Ben Hall was a witness in the affair as well as being also implicated in the incident, the incident although seemed to be a fine line between a stolen and trialled horse, Charters later stated; "... I was brought up with Ben Hall at the court at Burrowa; I was not brought up there on any charge; I was summoned there about a horse; I had a horse from a man on trial, and he summoned me for payment for the use of it; I swear it was no charge of criminality at all; it is about two years and a half years ago;