Merchants' Nat'l Bank v. Glendon Co.

• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
• Citation: Merchants' Nat'l Bank v. Glendon Co., 120 Mass. 97 (Mass. 1876)
• Decision Date: 20 March 1876
• Parties: Merchants' National Bank of Bangor v. Glendon Company

120 Mass. 97

Merchants' National Bank of Bangor v. Glendon Company

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

March 20, 1876

Suffolk. Contract upon a promissory note made by the defendant corporation and indorsed to the plaintiff described in the writ as "a corporate body organized under the laws of the United States of America, and having an established place of business at Bangor in the State of Maine." On November 5, 1875, the plaintiff made and filed the following affidavit under the St. of 1874, c. 248 § 3:

"And now comes the plaintiff in the above entitled action and on oath says that the allegations contained in the declaration filed in said action are true, and that in its belief there is no defence to said action, wherefore it prays that an order may be entered calling on the defendant to show cause why judgment in said action should not be given for the plaintiff."

The action was entered at October term 1875 of the Superior Court and advanced for speedy trial, trial by jury being waived by the parties.

At the trial in the Superior Court, before Brigham, C. J., the defendant asked the judge to rule that the action was not properly advanced, because the affidavit of the plaintiff did not set forth that it sought to recover a debt or liquidated demand in money, payable by the defendant; but the judge refused so to rule.

The plaintiff, for the purpose of proving the existence and organization of the plaintiff corporation, offered a certificate, under the hand and seal of the comptroller of the currency, setting forth that it had been made to appear that "the Merchants' National Bank of Bangor, in the city of Bangor, in the county of Penobscot and State of Maine," had been duly organized, and certifying that it was duly authorized to commence business under the U.S. St of 1864, c. 106. The defendant objected to the admission of this evidence; but the objection was overruled.

The plaintiff called F. C. Knapp, who testified that he was bookkeeper in the National Bank of Commerce in Boston, and knew that the Merchants' National Bank of Bangor did a banking business under that name; that he was in Bangor last summer, and went into their banking-house, and was well acquainted with the cashier, and that the National Bank of Commerce was in the habit of receiving remittances from the Merchants' National Bank of Bangor. To this testimony the defendant objected; but the objection was overruled.

The defendant offered no testimony, and the judge ordered judgment for the plaintiff; and to the foregoing rulings, and refusals to rule, the defendant alleged exceptions.

Exceptions overruled.

E. M Johnson, for the defendant. 1. The action was improperly advanced. The right to a speedy trial is limited by the St. of 1874, c. 248, § 3, to actions where the plaintiff seeks merely to recover a debt or liquidated demand in money, payable by the defendant; the plaintiff must bring himself within the terms of the statute by his affidavit, and in order to do so should state, in the affidavit, the nature of his demand, otherwise it becomes a question for the court to determine, in each case, whether the order shall...