Castle v. Rickly
Castle v. Rickly
Opinion of the Court
On the 18th day of November, 1872, George W. Griffith, for value received, made his two promissory notes' of that date, for $156 each, to Jacob Matheny or order, payable respectively in three and four years after date, with interest from date, payable annually. Both notes bore the indorsement: “ Protest waived- J. S. Matheny, G. F. Castle.” Matheny, and Castle, the plaintiff in error,
Among other things, the court charged the jury as follows :
1st. “The instruments sued-on in this action are not foreign notes, but are inland notes, . . . but it was necessary, at maturity, to demand payment of the maker, and on his failure to promptly pay the same, to give immediate notice of such demand and dishonor to the indorsers, unless demand and notice of such non-payment had been waived.”
2d. “But, whether he” (the defendant, Castle) “was indorser or guarantor, the nature of his undertaking was such that he was entitled to have notice of demand and
But the court refused to give the following in charge to the jury, as requested by the plaintiff, to wit:
“If you should find, from the evidence, that the said Castle did not indorse said notes, by writing his name on the back thereof, under the words ‘ protest waived, ’ or at the same time, and as part of the same transaction, he did not write, or there was not written over his name the words ■ protest waived; ’ yet, if you should find, from the evidence, that the said Castle indorsed said notes, by writing his name upon the back thereof, in blank, after the execution of said notes, and that the said Castle was not an original party to the notes, but a stranger, this would constitute an absolute and unconditional guaranty of said notes by the said Castle; and the said Castle, having made no defense to said guaranty, he would be liable, as guarantor of said notes, without notice to him of demand and non-payment, or protest, and your verdict must then be for the plaintiff, finding the amount due the plaintiff from said defendant, Castle, on said notes.”
To which charge and refusal to charge the plaintiff at the time excepted. A verdict was -returned in favor of Castle. A motion for á new trial being overruled, judgment was entered on the verdict, and a bill of exceptions, embodying all the evidence adduced on the trial, was allowed and made part of the record. The district court reversed the judgment of the common pleas, for error in its charge, and refusal to charge the jury as requested, and remanded the cause for a new trial. This proceeding is instituted to reverse the judgment of the district court.
It is not claimed that the plaintiff in error ever had notice of any demand of payment on the maker of the
We are of opinion that the plaintiff in error was such a guarantor. It was held in Champion v. Griffith, 13 Ohio, 228, and afterward approved in Robinson v. Abell, 17 Ohio, 36, that the mere indorsement upon a note of a stranger’s name in blank is prima facie evideuce of guaranty— there being no proof that his indorsement was made at the time of the making of the note. This presumption, it is true, may be overcome by parol evidence that a different agreement was intended. Oldham v. Broom, 28 Ohio St. 52; Kelley v. Few, 18 Ohio, 441; Bright v. Carpenter, 9 Ohio, 139; Champion v. Griffith, supra; Robinson v. Abell, supra. But the evidence, as disclosed by the record, shows that Castle’s name was not put upon the notes at the time of their' execution or before they were drawn, and so he could not be charged-as an original promisor. He was a stranger to the paper — his name not being thereon — at the time it was first offered to'Rickly in part payment for the real estate. Not then being in the chain of title, having no ownership in the notes, he cpuld not, in the capacity of indorser, vest title thereto in an indorsee. Matheny, the payee, was at the time in possession of and the sole owner of the notes, and was the only person competent as an indorser to enter into the contract implied in the act of indorsement, namely,
The guaranty of the plaintiff in error was not dependent on any condition or contingency expressed in or implied from the terms of his contract. In legal effect, it was as absolute and unconditional as if he had written on the back of each note, “ I guarantee the payment of the within note” — words held in Clay v. Edgerton, 19 Ohio St. 549, to be an absolute and unconditional guaranty, and vrhich rendered it unnecessary to aver or prove either demand or notice, in order to make out a prima facie case for recovery. As said in Neil v. Trustees, etc., 31 Ohio St. 15, “a breach of the agreement of the guarantor results from the nonpayment of the debt.” There being no condition, as regards presentment or notice, implied in the terms of such a guaranty, the guarantor must inquire of his principal, or take notice of his default, at his peril. By such guaranty, the guarantor is not made a party to the note, and his contract, unlike that of an indorser, is governed by the rules of the common law, and not by those peculiar to the law
Judgment accordingly.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.