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28 Mo. 331

Barret v. Evans

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided March 15, 1859

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1859-03-15

Louis Court of Common Pleas. This was an action against defendant as endorser of a promissory note. The defence relied on was that Evans had not received due notice of protest of the note. At the trial it appeared that notice of protest had been given by a letter directed to the defendant Evans and deposited in the St. Louis post-office. Evans at the time of protest lived between two and three miles from the court-house, in St. Louis county, outside the city limits.

Relies on Walker v. Bank of Missouri

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1859-03-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently June 1908

5 state decisions

20185918601870188018901900decided

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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Soott, Judge,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2The question in this case is whether the endorsee of a negotiable promissory note, whose residence is near but outside of the limits of the city of St. Louis, and whose post-office is the city office, can be served with notice of the protest of the note through his post-office, which is that of the city.

¶3This case finds authority in the books for deciding it either way. Under such circumstances we are at liberty to adopt that course which seems most conducive to uniformity in the law, and which will produce the least litigation and strife. Where the party to be served is a resident of the city or town where the protest is made, the course required is to give him personal notice,' or to leave it at his dwelling or place of business. But if he lives in the country, then a notice by mail to his post-office will be sufficient. Now as the party in this case lived in the country outside of the city, why should not a notice through his post-office be sufficient ? If we once depart from the city limits as the rule as to residence, where shall we go ? 'How far out must the party be to deprive him of a personal notice or its equivalent. This must lead to dispute. The other rule is preferable for its certainty, as it leaves no ground for controversy. In an old case, the course adopted here was pursued in relation to giving notice to one outside but near the city of St. Louis. It seems that no exception was taken to it in that case. (Walker v. The Bank of Missouri, 8 Mo. 704.) We do not deem it necessary to state and review the cases on this question. There is ample authority for the opinion we have expressed.

The other judges concur.

¶4Affirmed.

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