Sandlin v. Anders
Sandlin v. Anders
Opinion of the Court
This is an unlawful detainer suit, under section 4263 of the Code of 1907, by the plaintiffs — appellants here — against James Anders and his wife, Marietta Anders, for possession of S. E. % of section 36, township 7, range 5 west, in Morgan county.
The evidence showed that there were three written demands for the possession of this land made at one time on the typewriter; all three were signed, all three were originals, all three just exactly alike, and all three addressed to the defendants; one was read to the defendant James A. Anders, and it was handed to him and left with him, more than 10 days before the suit was commenced. The evidence also showed that no demand .was made on James Anders to produce it on the trial, and James Anders could not read; but his testimony indicated (but not positively) that the written demand, read and left with him, was at his home in his trunk. One of said triplicate originals of the written demand, but not the one left with James Anders, was offered in evidence; the defendants objected, because it was not the identical paper left with James Anders, and no notice to produce it had been given, and the one offered was not the best evidence. The court sustained these objections, and plaintiffs duly excepted, and took a nonsuit.
Where an original demand is made and executed in duplicate or triplicate, each duplicate or triplicate is primary evidence, and is admissible, without notice to produce the other, or without accounting for its absence. The evidence must show that the one offered is in truth and in fact a duplicate in every particular.
These written demands in this case were made in triplicate; each was executed; the evidence shows each was an exact copy of the other in every particular. This made each an original, and each was admissible in evidence .without accounting for the other, and without the necessity for a notice to produce the other. The proof showed that the defendant James A. Anders was handed one of these triplicate original notices more than 10 days before this suit was filed, and the court erred in not allowing one of the other two to be introduced in evidence as offered by the plaintiffs. Westbrook v. Fulton, 79 Ala. 510; R. D. Burnett Cigar Co. v. Art. Wall Paper Co., 164 Ala. 547, 54 South. 263, 17 Cyc. 517, § 5; Corpus Juris, vol. 22, p. 1023, §§ 1313 and 1314.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SANDLIN Et Al. v. ANDERS Et Al.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published