Henry v. Fay
Henry v. Fay
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
§ 834. Variance between description of note sued, on and the note offered in evidence; rules as to; case stated. Appellant sued appellee in the county court of Cooke county upon a promissory note. Appellee resided in another county. The petition set out the note sued upon in hcec verba, and alleged that defendant had therein promised to pay the same in Cooke county. The note, as set out in the petition, contained the words, “payable at Gainesville Bank.” The note offered in evidence, and admitted over defendant’s objections, read “ payable at Goneville Bank.” Defendant pleaded his privilege to be sued in the county of his residence, which plea was overruled, and judgment rendered against him for the amount of the note, interest and costs. Held: The plaintiff was not required to set out the note in hcec verba, but had the privilege to set forth a description of it according to its substance and legal effect. Yet, having elected to describe it, by setting it forth in words and figures, it is an elementary rule of evidence that when offei’ed in evidence it must have been found to correspond with the description given. An instrument thus described is not ádmissible if it varies to such a degree that the court cannot say, on inspection of it, that it reasonably appears to be the instrument described in the pleading. The identity must be apparent from a comparison of the instrument with the description given of it. Slight inaccuracies are not necessarily fatal. If the instrument
§ 835. Place of performance of contract; error in naming it may be corrected to show jurisdiction. If the note sued on was in fact made payable at any place in Cooke county, Texas, an error or mistake, if such there was, in the mode of writing or spelling the name or designation of the place in the note, will not affect the question of jurisdiction, if, under an appropriate amendment of the petition, such explanatory allegations are made as will allow proof of the place intended to be described. Under the jurisdictional clause of the statute [R. S. art. 1198, subd. 5], the question to be determined is, whether the legal effect and purport of the written contract is that it should be performed in the county where the suit is brought. If any place in such county is attempted to be designated by the contract at which the contract is to
§ 8 3 6. Illegal evidence; admission of, not ground for reversal, when. When a case is tried by the judge without a jury, the admission of illegal evidence will not, ordinarily, afford ground for reversal, if the judgment is rightly rendered upon competent evidence. [Smith v. Hughes, 23 Tex. 248; Melton v. Cobb, 21 Tex. 539.]
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.