Ulrich v. Berger
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to the Common Pleas of Union county. George Ulrich against Jacob Berger. This was an action of debt on a bond, to which the defendant pleaded payment with leave to set-off; and under this plea gave in evidence a single bill of the plaintiff for $57.22. For the purpose of showing that this single bill was paid, the plaintiff offered in evidence the account of Jacob Berger, administrator of Jacob Crotzer deceased, settled in the Orphans’ Court, showing a balance of…
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ERROR to the Common Pleas of Union county. George Ulrich against Jacob Berger. This was an action of debt on a bond, to which the defendant pleaded payment with leave to set-off; and under this plea gave in evidence a single bill of the plaintiff for $57.22. For the purpose of showing that this single bill was paid, the plaintiff offered in evidence the account of Jacob Berger, administrator of Jacob Crotzer deceased, settled in the Orphans’ Court, showing a balance of $507.24 in his hands, for distribution among the heirs, of whom the wife of the plaintiff was one of seven. The account was…
1Per curiam
— Set-off is a creature of positive law, and exists only where it is authorized by statute. Our Act allows it only in favour of a defendant; and there consequently cannot be such a thing as set-off against set-off. A lawsuit might become very inconveniently complicated were it otherwise, as the contest might, in the end, be shifted from its original ground, and a plaintiff recover a different and greater demand than the one laid in his declaration. It is certain, then, that the law did not apply the debts, in this case, to the extinguishment of each other; for had there been such a principle…
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