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31 Me. 454

Rollins v. Stevens

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Decided July 1, 1850

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1850-07-01

Assumpsit upon a promissory note. The defendants were defaulted by consent, subject to the opinion of the court, as to their liability. The note was signed “John O. P. Stevens, principal: — W. & H. Stevens, sureties.” William Stevens and Hiram Stevens were co-partners in navigation and business of commerce, under the style of W. & H. Stevens. Their company name was affixed to the note, in the form above stated, by Hiram Stevens.

Relies on Foot v. Sabin

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1850-07-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently April 1919

5 state decisions

201850186018701880189019001910decided

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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Wells, J.

¶1It appeared by the evidence, that Hiram Stevens signed the name of the firm, consisting of himself, and *455William Stevens, to the note in suit, as sureties, for the other maker.

¶2One partner has no authority thus to use the name of the firm, out of the scope of the co-partnership business, unless the consent or subsequent ratification of the other is obtained. The note, on its face, indicates that it was given for the debt of the principal, and not for the debt of the firm. And the burden of proving such consent or ratification rests on the plaintiff.

¶3The plaintiff’s intestate could not claim to be an innocent holder, without the knowledge of such want of authority, for the form of the contract was information to him, that the firm had no interest in it, they being partners in navigation and the business of commerce. Bayley on Bills, 58; M. M. Bank v. Winship, 5 Pick. 11; 3 Kent’s Com. 47; Gow on Partnership, 58; Foot v. Sabine, 19 Johns. 154.

¶4According to the agreement of the parties, the default as to William Stevens is to be taken off, and the action to stand for trial.

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