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22 Me. 164

Skofield v. Haley

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Decided July 15, 1842

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1842-07-15

. Exceptions from the Eastern District Court, Chandler J, presiding. This was an action of assumpsit upon a guaranty by the defendant of an order by one Nelson on Brooks & Waldron, by them accepted payable in boards, in favor of one N. H. Mooney, for $41,55.

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently April 1894

1 state decisions

Relies on Oakley v. Boorman

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1842-07-15

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¶1The opinion of the Court was drawn up by

Whitman C. J.

¶2— Cases of guaranty are scarcely to be assimilated to those of indorsers, under the mercantile law of bills of exchange and promissory notes, in any of the rules, as to demand and notice. Clark & al. v. Burditt, 2 Hall, 197; 1 Story’s R. 22; Lee v. Dick, 10 Peters, 482. A guarantor *167may be, and generally is, liable without either ; and is, in many respects, in the condition of a surety, obligating himself jointly and severally with the principal. If the holder of the obligation lays by, after the debt becomes due, for a great length of time, without making efforts to collect his demand, and, in the mean time, the debtor becomes insolvent, according to some authorities, it would seem, that the guarantor, would in a Court of equity, if not of law, be held to be absolved from his liability. But if the debtor were insolvent, when the debt became due, as was the case here, neither demand on him, or notice to the guarantor would be necessary to charge him. Reynolds & al. v. Douglas & al. 12 Peters, 497.

¶3As to the offer of a bond, &c. in lieu of the guaranty, in this case it was but a proposition on one side, not acceded to on the other, and could not affect the rights of the plaintiff under the guaranty.

¶4As to the third ground relied upon in the defence, against a portion of the plaintiff’s claim, we are of opinion that it cannot prevail. The order was sold to the plaintiffs by the defendant bona fide and absolutely in toto. The property in it therefore became wholly the plaintiff’s. It was the intention, for aught that appears, that he should avail himself of the whole amount due of the drawees; and if he could not, that the defendant should be responsible for it. And this view of the point, if authority were necessary to sustain it, is fully borne out by the case of Oakley v. Boorman, 21 Wend. 588.

¶5Exceptions overruled and judgment on the verdict.

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