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154 Mass. 105

Johnson v. Brown

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1891-06-25

<p>Promissory Note — Notarial Certificate — Notice to Indorser—Mailing.</p> <p>Any instrument, purporting to be a protest of a bill or note duly certified by a notary public under his hand and official seal, is competent evidence thereof, without proof that the signature is his, or that he is a notary at the date of the protest.</p> <p>A notice of the non-payment of a promissory note, addressed to the indorser and deposited in a post-office box in a public street, is duly mailed to him.</p>

Relies on Pierce v. Indseth · Townsley v. Sumrall · Graham v. Anderson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1891-06-25

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently December 1960

8 state decisions

3018911900191019201930194019501960decided

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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Allen, J.

¶11. The notarial certificate of protest was competent, without further proof. This has often been so held, in respect to foreign bills. Porter v. Judson, 1 Gray, 175. Pierce v. Indseth, 106 U. S. 546. Browne v. Philadelphia Bank, 6 S. & R. 484. For this purpose, the different States of the Union are deemed foreign to each other, so that a notarial certificate of protest under seal is good on mere production. Townsley v. Sumrall, 2 Pet. 170. Halliday v. McDougall, 20 Wend. 81. Carter v. Burley, 9 N. H. 558, 566. See also Phoenix Bank v. Hussey, 12 Pick. 483. By St. 1880, c. 4, re-enacted in Pub. Sts. c. 77, § 22, protests of domestic bills of exchange and notes are put upon the same basis. The meaning is the same as if the language had been, that any instrument purporting to be a protest of a bill or note, duly certified by a notary public under his hand and official seal, shall be prima facie evidence. Notaries public hold office under the Constitution. With the aid of the statute, if not without, courts may take judicial notice of the seal of the notary public, and as a next step, may take notice of his signature also. 1 Greenl. Ev. §§ 5, 6. In re Phillips, 14 Nat. Bank. Reg. 219. Denmead v. Maack, 2 MacArthur, 475. Tunstall v. Parish of Madison, 30 La. An., pt. 1, 471, 477. Wetherbee v. Dunn, 32 Cal. 106. Graham v. Anderson, 42 Ill. 514. State v. Williams, 5 Wis. 308.

¶22. The deposit of the notice in a post-office box on the street was just the same, in legal effect, as if it had been deposited in a box at the post office. Skilbeck v. Garbett, 7 Q. B. 846. Pearce v. Langfit, 101 Penn. St. 507.

¶3¡Exceptions overruled.

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