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6 Watts 324

Bowman v. Sharp & Carman

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided July 15, 1837

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1837-07-15

Sharp and Carman against Foster, Bowman and Forsythe. This action was brought upon the insolvent bond of Foster, in which Bowman and Forsythe were sureties. The plaintiffs filed a statement and referred the cause to arbitrators who made a report for the plaintiff for 378 dollars 45 cents. A motion was made in the court below to set aside the award on two grounds.

Relies on Roop v. Meek

Decided 1837-07-15

Per Curiam.

¶1A bail bond was thought an unfit subject of compulsory arbitration in Roop v. Meek, 6 Serg. & Rawle 542, and Hersberger v. Venus, 3 Penns. Rep. 396, because it is a subject of discretionary relief to be administered only by the court; but in Kelley v. Stepney, 4 Watts 69, an insolvent’s bond was considered as an ordinary obligation to do a particular act, whose performance alone can exonerate the bail, who is rather a surety in the strict sense of the word: insomuch, that a surrender before the day does not discharge him. It is, therefore, on a footing with a recognizance of bail in error, which was deemed arbitrable in Stevenson v. Docherty, 3 Watts 176. Being thus determinable by a popular tribunal, the cause of action may be set out in a statement, without the technicality of a declaration.

¶2Judgment affirmed.

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