Wilson v. Moss
Wilson v. Moss
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This is an action to- recover the sum of one thousand and eighteen dollars, for services alleged to have been rendered by the plaintiff as a household servant to her brother, D. S. Wilson, and his wife, Angie C. Wilson, formerly doing business as copartners under the firm name of Mr. & Mrs. D. S. Wilson, between- the first day of January, 1896, and the thirty-first day of December, 1902, as will more fully appear by reference to the case of Wilson v. Wilson, 74 S. C., 30, the record of which was introduced in evidence. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the defendant, and' the plaintiff appealed.
These exceptions must be overruled for the following reasons:
1. The grounds upon which the objection to the testimony were interposed were not stated.
2. The limits of a cross-examination are within the discretion of the presiding Judge, and this Court will not interfere with his rulings unless there has been an abuse of discretion, which has not been made to appear in this case. State v. May, 33 S. C., 39, 11 S. E., 440; Martin v. Jennings, 52 S. C., 371, 29 S. E., 807.
3. The testimony was relevant for the purpose of showing the surroundings under which the parties entered into the partnership.
Thereafter the presiding Judge charged the jury: “If you find that the husband and wife were copartners in trade, and lived together, and gave their entire time and attention to such business, and if they kept a house in which they lived, and there boarded themselves and the clerks and employees of their business, and such house and its maintenance was necessary to.and operated to promote and further their common commercial enterprise, and if the plaintiff was under such circumstances employed by one of the copartners to keep the said house, and did keep it for the common enterprise, then the copartnership is liable in law for her services.”
It is true the jury had the right under this charge, to determine whether there was such a partnership as enabled D. S. Wilson to employ the plaintiff for the benefit of the firm, but the presiding Judge failed to explain his language to the effect that “the contract was beyond the scope of the partnership,” which was unquestionably in violation of Article V, Section 26, of the Constitution, which provides that “Judges shall not charge juries in respect to matters of fact.” The jury might reasonably have supposed, that although they 'had the right to determine the facts, nevertheless the presiding Judge thought “the contract was beyond the scope of the partnership.” This exception is sustained.
*124
The seventh exception is disposed of by what was said in considering the fifth exception.
*125 It is the judgment of this Court, that the judgment oí the Circuit Court be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.