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18 Johns. 58

Crookshank v. Burrell

New York Supreme Court

Decided May 15, 1820

New York Supreme Court · decided 1820-05-15

IN ERROR, on certiorari to a Justice’s Court. B. de» dared against C. before the justice, on a contract between h‘m atld the defendant, whereby it was agreed that B. shodd make the wood work of a waggon, which the de-fendant was to pay for in lambs, at one dollar a head, The plaintiff claimed 25, dollars. The agreement was * 0 proved: and that the plaintiff had made ■ the waggon r . , . . ,. , T, , , , within the period limited.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1820-05-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently March 1925

15 state decisions — followed in 10 states

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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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Spencer, Ch. J.

¶1. . - delivered the opinion of the Court. It no where appears that the value of the waggon or the price of it, was ten pounds or upwards. The *59claimed to recover 25 dollars; but this does not denote the price of the waggon, and it is mere matter of form. But, admitting that the price agreed on was 25 dollars, still it would not be a case within the statute. In Bennet v. Hull, (10 Johns. Rep. 364.) we decided, that the statute applied to executory, as well as other contracts, and we recognised the cases of Rondeau v. Wyatt, (2 H. Bl. 63.) and Cooper v. Elston, (7 Term Rep. 14.) as containing a just and sound construction of the statute. In giving the opinions in those cases, the judges referred to the case of Towers v. Osborn, (Str. 506.) with approbation. In that .case, the defendant bespoke a chariot, and after it was made for him, refused to take it; and Pratt, Ch. J. ruled, that it was not a case within the statute. In Clayton v. Andrews, (4 Burr. 2101.) it was decided, that an agreement to deliver wheat, understood to be unthreshed, was not within the statute. The distinction taken by Lord Loughborough in Rondeau v. Wyatt, and by the judges, who gave opinions seriatim, in Cooper v. Elston, was between a contract for a thing existing in solido, and an agreement for a thing not yet made, to be delivered at a future day. The contract in the latter case, they considered not to be a contract for the sale and purchase of goods; but, a contract for work and labour merely. However refined this distinction may be, it is well settled, and it is now too late to question it.

¶2It appears that the defendant was to come after the waggon, and that it was completed at the time agreed upon. It is necessarily to be inferred, that when he came for the waggon, he was to pay for it, in the mode agreed upon, and, of course, he was to drive his lambs to the plaintiff. We are of opinion that the judgment must be affirmed.

¶3Judgment affirmed»

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