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25 Mo. 417

Crow v. Harmon

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided July 15, 1857

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1857-07-15

This was a suit upon the following instrument in writing: “ I promise to pay G-. W. Crow one hundred dollars if the M. T. Lewis county road is not opened and kept open along the creek where it is now located, or if said Crow should make null the present proceedings of the court and commissioners as already had and done by them. I also agree that if sard road is opened and kept open that said Crow shall have all the damages that may ever be assessed me for the same-.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1857-07-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently May 1925

4 state decisions

1018571860187018801890190019101920decided

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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Scott, Judge,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2This was a suit on a promissory note, and the objections to a recovery were that the consideration was against public policy, being champertous, and that it was without consideration.

¶3The first section of the act concerning bonds and notes (R. C. 1845, p. 189) provides that all notes in writing made and signed by any person or his agent, whereby he shall promise to pay to any other person or his order or unto bearer any sum of money or property therein mentioned, shall import a consideration and be due and payable as therein specified. The note importing of itself a consideration, the burden of proving a want of consideration was upon the defendant. No evidence was given by him showing a want of consideration for the note, and therefore his objection was properly disregarded.

¶4As to the objection that the contract was champertous, it may be answered that there is nothing on the face of it showing that it is obnoxious to such an imputation, nor was there any evidence in support of it.

¶5*420The defendant was not prejudiced by the refusal of the court to admit the record of the county court as evidence, as the effect of it was only to sustain the plaintiff’s case. Judgment affirmed;

Judge Ryland concurring; Judge Leonard absent.
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