Town of Huntington v. Chesmore
| Decision Date | 14 September 1888 |
| Citation | 15 A. 173,60 Vt. 566 |
| Parties | TOWN OF HUNTINGTON v. A.H. CHESMORE |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
JANUARY TERM, 1888
ASSUMPSIT. Pleas, general issue and Statute of Limitations. Trial by court, April Term, 1887, ROWELL, J., presiding. Judgment for the plaintiff.
The judgment is affirmed.
Hard & Cushman, for the defendant.
The writing given to the defendant by Sydney M. Gillett, under date of January 14, 1874, and the acceptance of it by the defendant, constituted an agreement between the parties by the terms of which Gillett was to pay, for and on account of the defendant, all debts due from the firm of Snyder Chesmore & Shattuck. One of those debts was the note in suit. There was no novation of the parties to this note, and the defendant's liability to pay it remained unaffected; but the defendant agreed with Gillett to pay the note for him and, as the referee finds, rested upon that agreement, and gave no further thought or attention to the note himself until his attention was called to it in 1882 by the payee, to whom he replied that it was Gillett's business to see him clear of that debt.
The note was, by its terms, payable on demand, with interest annually. When the defendant contracted with Gillett to pay the note for him, it cannot be said, therefore, that payment at a time certain, as upon the maturity of a note payable on a date or at the expiration of a time fixed by its terms, was contemplated. The defendant contracted with Gillett, for his own benefit and advantage, to pay the note for him according to its tenor, which would be whenever payment was demanded by the payee, and must have authorized Gillett to do what he, by contract and agreement, bound him to do, so far as any authorization might be necessary from, and could be given, by the defendant. The payment of interest annually, until such time as the principal should be paid, was incident to the debt, and a part of the contract evidencing it; so when the defendant bound Gillett to pay this note for him, he bound him also to pay the interest on it, annually, until he discharged the principal, and must have authorized Gillett to the same extent as he bound him in respect of the matter.
The law of this State gives the effect of a new promise to the part payment of a debt, when made by a person having authority to make such payment, and without protestation against further liability. The annual interest on...
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