Springer v. Shirley & Hyde
Springer v. Shirley & Hyde
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This being a joint action against the defendants, it cannot be maintained unless they are jointly liable to the plaintiffs. It is equally true, that if the late firm of Shirley, Hyde & Co. are
The plaintiffs contend, that as the firm of Shirley, Hyde & Co., when they accepted the plaintiff’s first draft, charged them with the amount of the acceptance, it must be considered that the plaintiffs, in settlement of accounts with the firm, allowed them the amount; but as the firm did not pay according to their acceptance, and the plaintiffs have been compelled to pay it to the bank, that therefore they are now entitled to recover the money sued for by way of reimbursement. This argument is not supported by any facts in the case. We know of no settlement of accounts, and we can judge only from what we know. The draft was on four months, and at its maturity all parties knew that it was not paid in any other mode than by the draft on William Hyde, and his acceptance of it. The above assumed fact may therefore be laid out of the case, and then the inquiry is, whether the acceptance of the second draft by William Hyde, bound the firm of Shirley, Hyde & Co. or William Hyde, only: for if it bound him only, then the law will not imply a joint promise by the defendants to reimburse the plaintiffs the sum paid by them to the bank as indorsers of the draft. On this point we apprehend there can be no doubt. In Evans v. Drummond, 4 Espinasse’s Rep. 93, Lord Kenyon decided that if two partners give a bill of exchange for a partnership demand, and when the bill becomes due, the holder takes the separate bill of one of them, the other is discharged. His language is, “ Is it to be endured that when partners have given their acceptance, and perhaps one of two partners has made provision for the bill, that the holder shall take the sole bill of the other partner, and yet hold both liable ? I am of opinion that when the holder chooses to do so, he discharges the other partner. Laying the idea of a pre-existing partnership which had been dissolved, out of the case, and considering Shirley and Hyde as two unconnected individuals, if Hyde owed a debt to Springer, and gave his note for
The second ground of defence is, that this acceptance by Shirley, was several months after dissolution of both partnerships : on what principle then could it bind William Hyde ? “ The very act of dissolution implies a discharge from all liabilities growing out of subsequent transactions ; inasmuch as the parties have become distinct persons, and are no longer members of the association. Indeed the whole range of decisions, both in the American and English books, upon this point, concur that whenever a new debt or a new cause of action is to be created after the expiration of the partnership, it can only bo done by the individual act of each co-partner.” Parker v. Merrill & al. 6 Greenl. 41. On this point we need not cite other cases. Beyond all this, the report states expressly that the money which the plaintiffs paid to the bank was to take up the last draft; and that draft was discounted for the benefit of Shirley. This fact is an important one in either of the views which we have thus far taken of the cause ; and it at once repels the idea of an implied promise on the part of both of the defendants to reimburse the amount so paid.
But there is another principle of law applicable to this defence which must bar the action. The principle is, that when a creditor receives a negotiable security for a pre-existing demand, it completely extinguishes the original cause of action ; or, in other words, that demand, unless it appears from the facts attending the transaction, that it was not intended to have that effect. The authorities cited in support of the principle are direct and unanswered. While the bank held the draft, accepted by Wil-
For the reasons assigned we are all of opinion that the action cannot be maintained.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.