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7 Johns. 70

Losee v. Dunkin

New York Supreme Court

Decided November 15, 1810

New York Supreme Court · decided 1810-11-15

IN error, froñi the court of conirnon pleas of buchc~j county. The suit below was an action of assump~iton a pro.~ missory note given by the defendant to David .Z~Thwton, payable, on demand, to Newton, or bearer, for the sum of 55 dollars, with interest, and dated the 16th day of ~anuar9, 1805. An assignment in writing from Newton to the plaintiff, dated April 3, 1805, was endorsed on the note. The declaration was in the usual form~ on the note. Plea, non assurnp.~it.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“The demand must be made in reasonable time, and that will depend upon the circumstances of the case and the situation of the parties.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Morgan v. United States

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1810-11-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 1916

7 state decisions

2018101820183018401850186018701880189019001910decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam.

¶1The note was payable on demand, and

¶2negotiated upwards of two months and a half after it was given. The first question that naturally arises is, whether this is to be considered as a note negotiated after it was due, so as to let in the defence. There is no precise time at which such a note is to be deemed dishonoured. In Furman v. Haskin, (2 Caines, 369.) a note payable on demand, and negotiated eighteen monthg after it was given, was considered as a note out of time, -so as to subject the endorsee to the matter of defence *71existing when it was endorsed. On the other hand, in Hendricks v. Judah, (1 Johns. Rep. 319.) the note was payable on demand, and drawn in England, and was put in suit in this state by the endorsee within a year from its date, and the court said that the maker was not entitied, in that case, to a set-off of demands against the payee, without proof of a fraudulent assignment, for it was to be presumed that the note was assigned soon after its date. The demand must be made in reasonable time, and that will depend upon the circumstances of the case, and the situation of the parties. There are no particulars peculiar to this case disclosed; and the court cannot say that it was erroneous to let in the defence; for the circumstances of this case might have been such as to justify the conclusion that the note was dishonoured when it was assigned.

¶3Assuming this to have been the case, there is no doubt but that the defendant might give in evidence, under the general issue, payment to the original payee before the endorsement. (Brown v. Davis, 3 Term Rep. 80. Brown v. Cornish, 1 Ld. Raym. 217.) If the payment was in. full discharge of the note, it would go in bar of the suit j and if it was riot a payment in full, it will go only in mitigation of damages.

¶4The judgment below must therefore be affirmed.

¶5Judgment affirmed.

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