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35 Mass. 321

Marsh v. Day

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided October 1, 1836

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1836-10-01

<p>Where a note was guarantied to be c< good and collectable two years,*' it was AfW. that the guarantee was liable upon his contract, at any time after the note became due within the two years.</p>

Decided 1836-10-01

Shaw C. J.

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court. The only question is upon the construction of the defendant’s guaranty, which being given upon a pecuniary consideration, was a valid one. The obligation of a guarantor or surety, is not to be *322extended beyond the plain scope of his undertaking. The defendant’s undertaking is, in each case, to warrant the note good and collectable, two years. Two of the notes' were then due and payable ; the other was not due. The true construction of this contract, in the opinion of the Court, is, that the notes shall remain good and capable of being collected, for the erm of two years. If, therefore, upon taking proper measures to collect them, at any time after they were due, within two years, they could not be collected, it was a breach of the defendant’s promise, for which an action lies. The expression of the term of two years, we think, was to limit the extent of the guaranty, which would otherwise have been indefinite, and this construction is favorable to the guarantor.

¶2 Defendant defaulted.

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