Sams v. Stockton
Sams v. Stockton
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This action was brought in the circuit court by Stockton and Curtis, against Sams, for the balance of a merchant’s account due them, amounting to $36 68. The first question that arises in the case, is in regard to the jurisdiction of the circuit court. The action was commenced since the Revised Statutes were in
The account sued for was created in the year 1851, and the last articles in the account were charged on ° the 23d day of October in that year. The action was commenced on the 25th day of November, 1852, and the defendant relied, in his answer, upon the statute of limitations of one year in bar of the action.
But, although more than a year had elapsed after , nil i v the purchase of the last article in the account, before the action was commenced, still the statute of limitations did not operate in this case. By the provisions of the Revised Statutes, page 461, in every action upon a merchants account the limitation is to be computed from the first day of January next succeeding the respective dates or times of the delivery of the several articles charged in the account; and according to this mode of computation, the limitátion had not become complete when the action was commenced.
The defendant also relied upon the fact that he was ,r ....... i an infant when the account was created by him; and the plaintiffs insisted that he was liable for the articles purchased, notwithstanding his infancy, because they . were necessaries.
It was proved that the defendant, at the time he , i . , ’ purchased the goods in the plaintiffs account; was in
It is contended that the defendant was not liable for these goods, for two reasons: First, that they cannot be considered as necessaries, and in the second place, if necessaries, he was not responsible for them, but his father was.
If an infant marries, such clothing as is usually-worn on such occasions, by persons in his situation and condition in life, certainly come under the description of necessaries. They might not be necessary for ordinary purposes, but they become necessary in consequence of the use to which they are to be applied ; and as the defendant had been trading and doing business for himself, and purchased these goods upon his own credit, and agreed either expressly or impliedly to pay for them, he was individually liable for the price of them.
The judgment rendered against him by the circuit court is therefore affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.