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64 Ala. 240

Crawford v. McLeod

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided December 15, 1879

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1879-12-15

Tried before the Hon. John A. Minnis. This action was brought by Angus McLeod, against Thomas J. Crawford, and was commenced before a justice of the peace, on the 1st March, 1878.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1879-12-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently September 1930

4 state decisions

201879188018901900191019201930decided

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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STONE, J.

¶1The plaintiff’s claim consisted of an account, and is not, in its nature, self-proving. Until some testimony was produced, tending to prove its correctness, the plaintiff showed no right to a recovery, and it was not necessary for the defendant to offer any evidence in defense. He was entitled to a verdict, because the plaintiff had shown no cause of action against him. We do not think there is, in the release of “ all actions and rights of actions,” given by McLeod after this suit was brought, and copied in the record, any admission that Crawford owed McLeod any thing when this suit was brought. It may have been simply a purchase of his peace by Crawford; a purchase which all men have a right to make, or offer to make, without admitting any indebtedness thereby.

¶2The City Court erred in two aspects : first, in charging on the effect of the evidence, without being thereto requested; and, second, in ruling that, under the evidence, the plaintiff was entitled to recover nominal damages.

¶3Beversed and remanded.

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