Kellogg v. Curtis
Kellogg v. Curtis
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court. The first question to be considered is, whether there was a good consideration for the note. It would be sufficient if there were gain to the promisor or damage to the promisee.
The note was given upon a condition which the defendant failed to perform. The jury so found the fact, upon the evidence which was submitted to them upon the trial. There is no objection to the plaintiff’s recovery on that ground. It was to be delivered to the party who performed ; and the party <vho failed to perform the condition became answerable for the non-performance.
The question remaining to be considered regards the amount which the plaintiff is entitled to recover. If, as his counsel contends, the amount of the note was the damages liquidated by the parties, then the whole sum, with interest, should be the measure of damages. If the notes, which were given by each to the other, were in the nature of a penalty for the non-performance of the agreement of submission, then the rule of damages should be the real injury sustained by the plaintiff. And upon consideration, we all think the latter is the correct view of the transaction. The defendant assumed the liability of Knapp to the plaintiff. The amount of the claim was to be
We all think that the judge should have permitted the defendant to prove, either that nothing was due from Knapp to the plaintiff, in which case nothing should be recovered ; or that a sum, less than that expressed in the note, was due, in which case that sum should be recovered.
A new trial must therefore be granted.
See 1 Metcalf & Perkins’s Dig 99 tit £greement. art. II. (1).
See Harrington v. Stratton, 22 Pick. 530; Dyer v. Homerf 22 Pick. 253.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ithamar Kellogg versus Abijah Curtis, Administrator &c. of Reuben Stoddard
- Status
- Published