Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

29 Ill. 313

Seery v. Socks

Illinois Supreme Court

Decided April 15, 1862

Illinois Supreme Court · decided 1862-04-15

This suit was originally brought before a justice of the peace of Woodford county, by appellees, against appellant, as agent of Eobinson & Dunham' in which appellees recovered judgment for $65, and the same was appealed to the Circuit Court. Trial was had in said Circuit Court, at the December term thereof, 1861, and the jury found a verdict for appellees for $60.60.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1862-04-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently March 1910

6 state decisions

20186218701880189019001910decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Caton, C. J.

¶1There is and can be no question that Seery .acted as the agent of Eobinson <fe Dunham, in the sale of the corn sheller, and that this was well known by the purchasers. The order on its face is. given to Robinson & Dunham, in whose name Seery made the sale, and the summons is to him, as their agent. On this point, there can be no dispute. The action, then, shpuld have been against the principals, and not the agent. When the agent professes to act as agent, and discloses the name of his principal, he assumes no personal responsibility, unless he is guilty of some fraud, ■ of which there is no pretense in this case.

¶2But even if the action were properly brought, it could not be maintained on this proof. According to Socks’ own statement, the vendor was to have an opportunity to bring a mechanic to set up the machine, and to give it a fair trial, and he was entitled to a reasonable time to do so. This was refused. The proof shows that the machine was a good one, and with reasonable time there is no doubt the defendant could have had it properly adjusted, so that it would have done good work. It did not do good work on the first trial, because some parts of the machine were wanting, which were brought up by the mechanic; and because the machine was not properly adjusted.

¶3The judgment must be reversed, and the cause remanded.

¶4Judgment reversed.

/29/ill/313 · .json · Public domain