Westbrook v. Eager
Westbrook v. Eager
Opinion of the Court
The decision of the court, was delivered by
On the trial of this cause in the court below, Eager offered in evidence, a paper not under seal, but signed by Davis, purporting to be a bill of sale of the grain in question, with an acknowledgment at the foot, of the receipt from Eager, of the price. The reception of this paper, was resisted. And it was here objected, that it was the mere admission of.a person not a party to the action. But is it not evidence, that the person
Again it was urged, that the deed of conveyance of the farm, offered in evidence by the defendant below, was improperly rejected. It was alleged to have been offered, not as evidence of title to the land, (as such it was clearly inadmissible) but only to prove title to the grain, a mere chattel, and as such passing by the deed. But this is a mistake. The grain is not mentioned in the deed. If it passed thereby, it passed, not as a simple chattel, but as an appendage to the freehold. If the freehold did not pass by the deed, clearly the grain did not. This question, whether the freehold passed by the deed, the justice, and the Common Pleas, on an appeal from his judgment, are by the statute, rendered equally incompetent to decide. They cannot inquire iuto it, or pass upon the evidence. The deed, therefore, was properly rejected by the courts below.
It was also urged, that the circuit record, transcript and postea, offered in evidence in the courts below, should have been received. By them, the defendant below offered to prove, that the matter in controversy had already been determined. But it is well settled as a general rule, that a verdict and postea are not evidence until judgment be entered thereon: or in other words, the postea without the judgment. Phil. Ev. 293. 1st Starkie 245. The cases to be found, of a contrary aspect, depend upon special circumstances, which do not exist in this case.
A further question was made on the argument, whether growing grain, is such a chattel as would pass by parol, against a subsequent deed and conveyance of the freehold ? A doubt, at least, might arise ’from what was before said, whether the parties were in .a situation, or before a tribunal, wherein that question can be investigated. But without resting on that doubt, it
On the whole, I perceive no error of the Court below, and their judgment must be affirmed.
Hoenblower, C. J. and Ford, J. concurred.
Judgment. affirmed.
Cited in, Bloom v. Welsh, 3 Dutcher 180-404.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.