Burns v. Allen
Burns v. Allen
Opinion of the Court
delivered the Opinion of the Court.
By articles of agreement entered into in October, 1836, between Burns on the one part and Allen, &e. on the other. Burns purchased of Allen, &c. 800 hogs, to be delivered at Petersburg, Georgia, on or_ before the 10th day of January, 1837, and paid for by Burns in fifteen days thereafter, at the rate of seven dollars per hundred pounds, gross weight, he to pay the expenses incurred, after delivery, and reserving the light of designa, ting a different point not more distant than that named in the articles for delivery.
The declaration by Allen, &c. on this covenant alledges, that on the 24th of December, 1836, the plaintiffs did deliver to the defendant’s agent, and by his election at a different place from that named in the covenant, sixty-one head'of the said hogs, weighing 14,871 lbs. gross; and that afterwards, and before the 10th day of January, 1837, at another named place designated by the defendant’s agent, they offered to deliver the residue of the said 800 hogs in good order, &c. but were prevented, &c. by the absence of the defendant and the refusal of his agent, &c. and that the defendant had not paid for the sixty-one hogs, &c. &c. nor for the residue of the 800 hogs, nor had he paid the expenses incurred on said residue, after the offer to deliver them. The defendant by his plea, denied the delivery of the sixty-one hogs and the offer to deliver the others as alledged, and issue being taken, the jury found for the plaintiffs $1299 48 in damages, on which judgment was rendered for the same sum. No exception was taken to any opinion of the Court rendered in the progress of the trial; no motion was made for a new trial, and none in arrest of judgment; but the defendant, Burns, prosecutes this writ of error for the reversal of the judgment, on the sole
It is a well established doctrine in the-English practice, and has been recognized in this State, that if the declaration contain one bad breach, with one or more good ones, and there be a general verdict, the judgment, nothing more appearing, should be arrested. The same doctrine prevails in England, if the declaration consist of several good counts and one bad one, which is in principle the same case. And it may be doubted whether the statute of Kentucky, which, although the English rule in the case of one bad count, when the declaration contains also a good one, might not, by reasonable construction, have been extended to the case of one bad breach, where the same count contains one or more besides, which are good. But the statute has received a literal construction, and we are not now to depart from it.
The only reason why the judgment should be arrested in either of the cases, is, that it is uncertain whether the verdict may not have been founded upon the defective count or breach; and it is accordingly laid down, where a general verdict has been taken on evidence given, only on the good counts, the Court (in England) will permit the verdict to be amended by the notes of the Judge before whom the trial was had; or if it appear by the Judge’s notes that the damages were calculated on evidence applicable to the good counts only, the Court will amend the verdict by entering it on those counts, though evidence was given applicable to the bad counts also: 1 Chilly’s PI. (ed. 1833,) ¶. 448; 2 Saunders 171, b. tyc. It is apparent therefore, that the circumstance that the verdict is general in its form upon a declaration containing one bad count, or upon a count containing one bad breach together with others which are good, will not itself be a conclusive ground for arresting the judg
It is apparent then, that in considering the question, made in this Court for the first time, whether the judgment should have been arrested or should now be reversed because there is a general verdict and a declaration containing one bad breach with one or more good ones, a question which might be affected by circumstances, dehors the pleadings and verdict, we are deprived of those grounds of determination which the Circuit'Judge would
Such a presumption would derive considerable weight in this case, from the favorable inference which might be drawn from the fact that no exception was taken to any opinion of the Court during the trial, and no motion afterwards made either for a new trial or in arrest of judgment. - •_
But besides all this, there is a most minute and precise coincidence between the damages assessed and the sum produced by the price of the 61 hogs, of the weight alf . . . . ° ledged m the declaration, with interest thereon from the time of payment, fixed by the contract, up to the time of trial, on the 16th and 17th of March, 1841, so that an inference arises on the face of the record- itself, that the verdict was, in fact, given for and confined to the price of these hogs, with interest. And, moreover, upon examining the declaration, we are of opinion that it contains no sufficient averment which in strict propriety,
Under all these considerations we are of opinion that the fair deduction from the whole record is, that the damages were assessed upon evidence applicable only to the good breach, and that any evidence which may have been offered under the bad breach, was either rejected by the Court or not considered by the jury in their assessment of damages, and that in such a state of case, the judgment should not be reversed upon the error assigned.
Wherefore, thejudgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.