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59 N.H. 572

Moore v. Fitz

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided June 5, 1880

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1880-06-05

Assumpsit. Writ dated December 27, 1879. Facts found by tbe court. October 31, 1879, the defendants bought goods of the plaintiffs, and they were charged on the plaintiffs’ books. December 2,1879, the defendants gave the plaintiffs their notes, — one on thirty and the other on sixty days, — payable to the order of the plaintiffs, for the same amount as the goods.

Relies on Ladd v. Wiggin · Jaffrey v. Cornish · Norris v. Langley

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1880-06-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently December 1949

8 state decisions

301880189019001910192019301940decided

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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Stanley, J.

¶1 The time of payment, for the goods sold, was not fixed. The price was consequently due on demand, and bringing the suit was a sufficient demand; but the defendants claim that the plaintiffs, by taking the two notes, equal in amount to the bill, neither of which was due and payable when this suit was commenced, extended the time of payment, and this action was, for this reason, premature. A note is not payment of a preexisting debt, unless specially agreed to be received as such. Wright v. First Crockery Ware Co., 1 N. H. 281; Jaffrey v. Cornish, 10 N. H. 505; Johnson v. Cleaves, 15 N. H. 332; Clark v. Draper, 19 N. H. 423; Randlet v. Herren, 20 N. H. 103; Whitney v. Goin, 20 N. H. *573 354; Smith v. Smith, 27 N. H. 244; Ladd v. Wiggin, 35 N. H. 421, 426. Whether a note was agreed to be received in payment is a question of fact. Wilson v. Hanson, 20 N. H. 375; Foster v. Hill, 36 N. H. 526. So is the question, whether it was agreed to extend the time of payment for the goods. The mere reception of the notes, assuming them to have been given for the goods, as it was not a payment for them, did not have that effect. It was evidence to be considered, with the other evidence, on the question whether or not there was an agreement for an extension, but it was not conclusive, and the verdict establishes the fact that there was no such agreement. The offer to return the notes to be cancelled was seasonably made, and the plaintiff, on filing them with the clerk, is entitled to

¶2 Judgment on the verdict.

Foster, J., did not sit: the others concurred.
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