Groves v. Kilgore

• Decision Date: 30 July 1881
• Citation: 72 Me. 489
• Parties: CHARLES H. GROVES, appellant, v. FRANK KILGORE.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

72 Me. 489

CHARLES H. GROVES, appellant, v. FRANK KILGORE.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

July 30, 1881

ON EXCEPTIONS.

An appeal from the court of insolvency.

The appellee, Frank Kilgore, was duly adjudged an insolvent, and petitioned the court of insolvency for a discharge. The appellant objected to his discharge for the following reason among others:

" That said debtor being, since the law was passed under which said proceedings are pending, a trader, … did not keep a cash book, and did not keep other proper books of account."

The judge of the court of insolvency decreed the discharge, and this appeal was taken.

At the trial, the jury found specially that " the appellee from May 14, 1878, to July 3, 1879, at Lewiston, in this county bought hay and grain and sold it, by keeping horses to bait and to board at his stable, or at the stable hired by him." Thereupon the presiding justice ruled pro forma, that as a matter of law, the appellee was not entitled to a discharge, and exceptions were alleged to that ruling.

Ludden and Drew, for the appellant, cited: In re O'Bannan, 2 N. B. R.; In re Odell & Odell, 17 N. B R. 73; U. S. Rev. Sts. § 5110; In re Littlefield, 3 N. B. R. 57.

L. H. Hutchinson and A. R. Savage, for the appellee.

The appellee was not a trader. He was a truckman who occasionally let out horses for hire and sometimes baited horses at his stable.

A trader is one who engages in commercial transactions, buying and selling for the sake of gain.

A livery-stable keeper may be a trader or he may not. It would depend upon the extent of his business and the manner of conducting it. If in addition to keeping horses to let for hire, or baiting or boarding horses, he should traffic in horses or keep a sale stable, he would be a " trader; " if he simply kept horses to let for hire, we contend he would not be a " trader." This case discloses that Kilgore kept one horse to let, and occasionally let two others.

The legal significance of the word " trader," is that of one who exchanges for the purpose of gain. Trade is commerce; traffic; barter. The idea we have suggested is inseparable from the legitimate use of the term. If one so conducts business of any name as to be engaged in exchanges for profit, he is a trader; otherwise not. See Webster's Dictionary, Trade; Trader; Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Trader.

WALTON J.

The insolvent law of this State declares that the debtor shall not be discharged, if, being a merchant or trader, he has not, since the passage of the act, kept a cash book, and other proper books of account. Act 1878, § 42.

In this case, the debtor's discharge is objected to upon the ground that he has been a livery-stable keeper since the passage of the act, and that a livery-stable keeper is a trader within the meaning of the law, and that, being such trader, he did not keep a cash book.

The debtor admits he did not keep a cash book, but he denies as matter of fact that he has been a livery-stable keeper, and he denies as matter of law that a livery-stable keeper is a trader.

The parties have been permitted to have the question of fact determined by a jury, and the jury found that the debtor had been a livery-stable keeper, and bought hay and grain and sold it by keeping horses to bait and board at his stable.

There is no motion to have the verdict set aside, and the only question for the law court is whether the presiding judge ruled correctly in holding that, a livery-stable keeper, who buys hay and grain and sells it by keeping horses to bait and board, is a trader within the meaning of the law.

We think the ruling was correct. It is settled law in England that a...