Marshall v. Lambeth
Marshall v. Lambeth
Opinion of the Court
On the 4th of August, 1838, Wm. M- Lambeth and Wm. E. Thompson formed a commercial' co-partnership with Charles A. Jacobs, under the style of W. M. Lambeth &. Thompson ; the former to be the acting and general partners, and the latter a partner incommendam to theextentof $150,000, which he paid. The partnership, which was to last for three years from the 1st of August, 1837, was duly recorded in the office of the Recorder of Mortgages. On the 16th of June, 1840, shortly before the partnership was to expire by its own limitation, it was dissolved by mutual consent. The partner in commendam withdrew from it, conveying and setting over to Wm. M. Lambeth and Wm. E. Thompson, all his rights, claims and interest in the concern, for the sum of $205,000. They assumed all the debts, and undertook to liquidate the affairs of the partnernership, and to save Charles A. Jacobs harmless from all claims whatsoever that might be made against the firm. Public notice of the dissolution of the partnership was given in August, 1840, when Lambeth and Thompson announced that, having purchased the entire interest of their partner in commendam, they would in future conduct the business for their sole account. This notice was'signed W. M. Lambeth 6p Thompson. Under this firm they continued to do business, and made no change in their books or mode of carrying on their affairs, until July, 1841, when they took in other partners, and altered the name of their firm to that of Lambeth, Thompson & Co. During the period of the partnership in commendam, and ever since, Charles A. Jacobs has had an office in the same building with Lambeth'and Thompson, and a sign on the outer door of the house.
Some time after the expiration of the partnership in commendam, to wit, on the 26th of April, 1841, W. M. Lambeth & Thompson, in consideration of an assignment made to them of two judgments obtained against some of their customers, accepted two drafts of the latter. It is on one of these acceptances that the present suit has been brought, and that Charles A. Jacobs is
Charles A. Jacobs being shown to have been only a partner in commendam of the firm of W. M. Lambeth & Thompson, it is by no means clear that its creditors have against him the same right of action which they can exercise against the firm. The partnership in commendam is not considered by our Code as a separate and distinct species of partnership, but rather as an incident or accessory, which may be attached to and incorporated with all kinds of partnerships, and the partner in commendam is viewed as a partner only to a certain extent. Civ. Code, arts. 2799, 2810,2811,2815. In the country from whose jurisprudence we have borrowed this kind of contract, the partner in commendam is considered in the light of a simple furnisher of funds, (bailleur defonds,) liable only to the partnership to which he binds himself to pay the same, and it has been a question of much discussion and doubt, whether the creditors of the firm have against him a direct action in their own name. Tire better , opinion seems now to be, that the creditors have no such action, although they can compel the partner in commendam to pay the amount he has agreed to put into the partnership, by exercising against him the rights of the acting partners. Rogron’s Comments on art. 23 of the Code de Commerce. Pothier, de la Société, No. 202. Pandectes Franc. v. 19, p. 146. Delangle, Comment sur les Soeiétés Commerciales, Nos. 267 to 293. Admitting that it is otherwise under the articles of the Civil Code of this State,-it is not easy to perceive how Charles A. Jacobs can be made liable as a partner in commendam of the firm- of W. M. Lambeth & Thompson, on an acceptance given by the latter ten months after the dissolution of the partnership in commendam, of which public notice was given in the newspapers. This notice was not even necessary, perhaps, to relieve Jacobs from future liability ; as all persons who had dealt with the firm upon his responsibility, knew, or ought to have known, from the recorded contract which informed them that he was a partner in commendam, that his connection with the firm was to last only three ■years from the 1st of August, 1837. With the expiration of the partnership his liability ceased, and he had the right to with
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- John R. Marshall v. William M. Lambeth and others
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published