Cassidy v. Farrell

Decided March 15, 1872

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1872-03-15

Contract on an account annexed for the price of certain quantities of rum, gin, whiskey and brandy, sold in October and November 1869 by the plaintiff to the defendant, who answered, denying generally the plaintiff’s allegations, and alleging that, “if the plaintiff shall offer any evidence tending to prove the items in the account, the defendant will offer evidence tending to prove that said items were spirituous and intoxicating liquors, sold, delivered and carted by the…

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1872-03-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently June 1940

7 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Chapman, C. J.

¶1By the Gen. Sts. c. 129, § 20, “ the answer shall set forth in clear and precise terms each substantive fact intended to be relied upon in avoidance of the action.” Its plain meaning is, that these facts shall be averred positively. This is in accordance with all just ideas of pleading. The allegation of the answer in this case, that “ the defendant will offer evidence tending to prove that said items were spirituous and intoxicating liquors, sold, delivered and carted by the plaintiff to the defendant in violation of the laws of this Commonwealth,” is not an allegation that they were thus sold, and did not authorize the defendant to offer proof of such a fact. The ruling was clearly right.

¶2Judgment on the verdict.