Hyman v. William Bayne.

• Decision Date: 30 September 1876
• Citation: 1876 WL 10332,83 Ill. 256
• Parties: ROBERT W. HYMANv.WILLIAM BAYNE.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

83 Ill. 256

1876 WL 10332 (Ill.)

ROBERT W. HYMAN

v.WILLIAM BAYNE.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1876.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. JOSEPH E. GARY, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. AYER & KALES, for the appellant.

Messrs. COOPER, GARNETT & PACKARD, for the appellee.

Mr. JUSTICE WALKER delivered the opinion of the Court:

Appellee instituted an action of assumpsit against appellant, in the Superior Court of Cook county, for money paid, laid out and expended for appellant's use. He filed several special pleas. The fourth set up and relied on the Statute of Limitations, averring that more than sixteen years had elapsed since the causes of action had accrued. To this plea appellee replied, Hyman was not within the State of Illinois for the space of sixteen years altogether, since the causes of action accrued and before the suit was brought. To this replication defendant rejoined, that the causes of action accrued beyond the limits of the State subsequent to the 10th day of April, 1849, and that when they accrued and the contracts were entered into, and since that time till the commencement of this suit, both plaintiff and defendant had not been nor were they then residents of this State, and the period of sixteen years from the time these causes of action accrued had expired before suit was brought. To this rejoinder plaintiff filed a demurrer, and it was sustained by the court, and defendant abided by his rejoinder.

The same question was substantially presented on a demurrer to plaintiff's first and second replications to defendant's ninth plea.

The seventh plea averred, as a defense, that the several causes of action arose and accrued in the State of Maryland, on the 1st day of January, 1856; that the defendant was then a citizen and resident thereof, and that neither plaintiff nor defendant had hitherto been or are they now citizens or residents of this State; that by the laws of that State, then and ever since in force, all actions on the causes of action set forth in plaintiff's declaration, are and were wholly barred, precluded and estopped at the end of three years after the causes of action accrued, and that no action had been brought thereon in the courts of Maryland or elsewhere, within three years after the causes of action accrued, although three years after the same had accrued has long since elapsed before the commencement of this suit, wherefore no action could be maintained by the laws of the State of Maryland, by reason of the lapse of time. To this plea the court sustained a general demurrer.

The eighth plea is in substance the same as the seventh plea, setting up a residence by defendant in the State of New York, and the bar of the causes of action by the laws of that State, averring that defendant had remained therein for the full period required by the statute of that State to produce a bar, and in this it differed from the seventh plea. To this plea a demurrer was overruled, and a replication was interposed that the causes of action did not arise or accrue in the State of New York, and on this replication issue was taken to the country.

The principal questions arise and are to be determined on these pleadings.

The question is, whether, under our limitation laws in force prior to the act of 1872, when both parties have, at all times, resided continuously beyond the limits of this State for the statutory period, a bar to a recovery is created.

It is urged in support of the proposition, that this action is barred by the act of the 5th of November, 1849. Its first section provides, “that all actions founded upon any promissory note, simple contract in writing, bond, judgment, or other evidence of indebtedness in writing, made, caused or entered into after the passage of this act, shall be commenced within sixteen years after the cause of action accrued, and not thereafter.” The second section provides, that “all actions founded upon accounts, bills of exchange or orders, or upon promises not in writing, express or implied, made after the passage of this act, shall be commenced within five years next after the cause of action shall have accrued, and not thereafter.” The third section provides, that the act, and the several acts to which it is an amendment, shall be subject to the several provisions, conditions and restrictions of the twelfth and thirteenth sections of the chapter entitled “Limitations,” of the Revised Statutes of 1845 of this State.

The twelfth section of that chapter can have no bearing on this case. The thirteenth provides, that “if any person or persons against whom there is or shall be a cause of action, as is specified in the preceding sections of this chapter, except real or possessory actions, shall be out of this State at the time of the cause of such action accruing, or any time during which a suit might be sustained on such cause of action, then the person or persons who shall be entitled to such action shall be at liberty to bring the same against such person or persons after his, her or their return to the State, and the time of such person's absence shall not be accounted as part of the time limited by this chapter.”

The twentieth section of the act of the 4th of April, 1872, provides, that “when a cause of action has arisen in a State or territory out of this State, or in a foreign country, and, by the laws thereof, an action thereon can not be maintained by reason of lapse of time, an action shall not be maintained in this State.”

It is contended, that, under these provisions, appellee's claim is as effectually barred as had the parties been residents of this State. It is urged that a person can not return to the State unless he had previously been in the State, and hence the saving clause of the act of 1845 has no application where the statutory period has expired, and the debtor has never been within the State, and that when the debtor resides out of the State, and the creditor is a non-resident, that statute creates a bar to the action. This is the language of the statute. A person can not return to a place until he has previously been at that place. This proposition is self-evident. It can not be rendered plainer by illustration or by reasoning.

This, then, being the plain and unmistakable import of the language, shall the courts give it effect, or by forced and unnatural interpretation shall they say that it does not convey the legislative intention? Shall the courts import into it an exception or a further clause, and say it should have read and was intended to read that the exception should also include persons who had never been in the State? It would seem to be unauthorized to give such a construction to this provision, when its language does not seem to admit of construction, nor does its spirit, nor does public policy seem to admit of it. The policy which dictated the adoption of such statutes, seems to require an interpretation in harmony with the plain language of the section. These statutes are designed to give repose to society, and are intended to prevent litigation of stale claims; and in pursuance of such a policy, it does not seem to be warranted on the part of the courts to obstruct or thwart such policy by doubtful or unauthorized construction. If the General Assembly had intended to exclude from the operation of this provision cases like the present, it seems reasonable to suppose that they would have added after the words, “shall be out of this State,” “or shall reside out of this State at the time of such action accruing, or any time during which a suit might be sustained on such cause of action,” etc., and might maintain the action “after his, her or their return to,” or he, she or they shall come within “this state,” etc.

We should have entertained no doubt that appellee's claim was not embraced within the provisions of this section, and his action was thereby barred, had it not been for the decisions of so large a number of respectable courts holding otherwise, under similar provisions in their statutes. But there is a conflict in the decisions of the courts of the States of the Union, and we feel at liberty to determine according to what we think was the meaning of the legislature, expressed by the language of the section. The courts holding that such cause of action is not included in such a saving clause, seem to us to have adopted the true construction, and supported it by the sounder reason, and hence we are inclined to adopt it as a basis of decision.

When trade was confined within narrow limits, and credit was not so general or as extensive as at the present day, the benefits and necessity of such a statute were not so fully felt or appreciated as at the present time. This is manifested by legislation of the present day designed to obviate the effects of the narrow construction placed on this very provision by the courts, which hold that an action is not barred against a non-resident, although it may be barred in the State in which the parties reside. This has been done in several States, including our own. The courts, under the then state of trade and credit, looked upon limitation laws...