White v. Smith
| Decision Date | 31 January 1875 |
| Citation | 1875 WL 8322,77 Ill. 351,20 Am.Rep. 251 |
| Parties | JOHN W. WHITEv.CHARLES W. SMITH. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Piatt county; the Hon. C. B. SMITH, Judge, presiding.
Mr. S. R. REED, Mr. P. A. HAMILTON, and Mr. A. J. GALLAGHER, for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. C. W. FAIRBANKS, Mr. G. W. GERE, and Mr. J. C. BLACK, for the defendant in error.
This was an action, brought by plaintiff below, as assignee, upon the following instrument in writing:
For value received, I promise to pay to the Monticello Railroad Company, or order, the sum of $50, to be paid in such installments and at such times as the directors of said company may, from time to time, assess or require.
J. W. WHITE.”
The declaration averred that the directors, on the 1st of June, 1866, made an assessment of five per cent, which was paid; on the 7th of May, 1867, another assessment of ten per cent, which was paid; on the 7th of January, 1868, another assessment of thirty-five per cent, of which there was notice to defendant, demand and refusal of payment; and that, on January 6, 1869, another assessment of fifty per cent was made, and like notice, demand and refusal of payment, the several assessments amounting to the whole sum of money in the instrument mentioned, and that afterwards the instrument was indorsed and assigned to the plaintiff.
The court below overruled a demurrer to the declaration and rendered judgment for the plaintiff.
The error assigned is, the overruling of the demurrer, and the question made is, whether the instrument in suit is a negotiable promissory note.
Plaintiff in error asserts it not to be, because, by its terms, it is uncertain whether the money will ever become payable or not; that the payment depended on an act to be performed by the directors, which act might never be performed by them, or that the railroad company, from some cause, might cease to exist before any assessment had been made by the directors.
The principle is undoubted, that, to constitute a valid promissory note, it must be for the payment of money which will certainly become due and payable one time or other, though it may be uncertain when that time will come. And where the payment depends upon a contingency, it will make no difference that the contingency does, in fact, happen afterwards, on which the payment is to become absolute, for its character as a promissory note can not depend upon future events, but solely upon its character when created.
The instrument in question does, seemingly, depend for its payment upon a contingency. But there...
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