Brown v. Mattingly
Brown v. Mattingly
Opinion of the Court
delivered, the opinion, of the Court
It seems to this Court, that the Circuit Court erred in instructing the jury for the plaintiff, that upon their finding the facts assumed in the instruction, the plaintiff had a right to the fifty dollars, as soon as the mares were tried, unless he had committed a fraud: Referring, as we should do, the terms of the contract as proved, to the printed offer of the defendant in regard to the purchase of mule colts, (and perhaps even without that reference.) we think the clear implication is that the $50 was to be paid at the time at which the colts, if any, would, according to the ordinary course of treatment, be weaned. On the ground of this error, as well as of surprise, as made out by the affidavit filed, a new trial should have been granted.
Wherefore, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
070rehearing
Petition for a Re-hearing,
The undersigned respectfully asks the Court for a rehearing of this cause, and if that is not granted, then he solicits a modification of the opinion..
As to the fraud part, it is all a farce. Mattingly’s mares were better than common mares, and there was nothing peculiar in them to indicate they would not breed to a Jack; besides, three of them had colts. What Robertson swore on the trial before the Justices, was not materially different from what he swore in Court; besides, it does not appear but the magistrates could have been 'had on the spot. The affidavit of Brown only intimates that Watts could not have been had, nor would the testimony of Watts have changed the verdict on the fraud branch of the case, for the conversation of Mattingly in relation to
Ben. Hardin.
Petition overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.