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65 Ill. 497

Goodwin v. Goodwin

Illinois Supreme Court

Decided September 15, 1872

Illinois Supreme Court · decided 1872-09-15

Richard G. Montony, Judge, presiding. The facts appear in the opinion, except that the application for a change of venue was based upon the alleged prejudice of the judge who tried the cause below.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1872-09-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently March 1923

5 state decisions

20187218801890190019101920decided

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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Mr. Chief Justice Lawrence

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court:

¶2This was an action brought to recover one year’s interest on the following instrument:

. “$3000. Aurora, III., Nov. 7, 1867.
“Due Samuel J. Goodwin, at the time of my decease, three thousand dollars, with interest payable annually, at the rate of six per cent per annum, provided my assets are sufficient, after my decease, to pay my then liabilities, but if not, this note to be delivered up to my heirs or personal representatives. Jeremiah Goodwin.”

¶3It is urged that this instrument (is not a promissory note, because payable only on a contingency, and that it was, therefore, necessary to prove a consideration, in order to a recovery, which was not done. It is true, the instrument is not, technically, a promissory note, for the reason named; but so far as the interest is concerned, it is “an instrument in writing'” for the payment of money, and is, therefore, under our statute, to be considered due and payable according to its terms, without proof, in the first instance, of a consideration. By the terms of the instrument, the interest was payable annually, and the maker had himself given it that construction, by paying the interest for the first three years after the note was given.

¶4We think the court did not err in rendering judgment for the interest due, without proof of a consideration.

¶5It is not necessary to decide whether the defendant’s affida-vit entitled him to a change of venue. The denial of his motion worked him no prejudice, as the only question in the case was the construction of this instrument, and the court construed it correctly.

¶6The judgment of the court below is affirmed.

¶7Judgment affirmed.

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