Dunbar v. Johnson
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract to recover a balance due upon an account stated on June 1, 1868. The answer set up that the account consisted of items for intoxicating liquors sold here by the plaintiff :o the defendants in violation of law.
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Contract to recover a balance due upon an account stated on June 1, 1868. The answer set up that the account consisted of items for intoxicating liquors sold here by the plaintiff :o the defendants in violation of law. At the trial in the superior court, before Pitman, J., without a jury, the judge, against the plaintiff’s objection, admitted evidence to show upon what transactions the account arose, and found “ that the plaintiff sold intoxicating liquors to the defendants in this Commonwealth, before June 1, 1868, in violation of the laws in force at the time of sale, and that the account…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
Although the accounting together is a sufficient consideration to support a count upon an account stated, the defendant is not precluded from pleading and proving that the whole claim was founded in an illegal transaction. Thomas v. Hawkes, 8 M. & W. 140. Cocking v. Ward, 1 C. B. 858, 870. Kennedy v. Brown, 13 C. B. (N. S.) 677. Rundlett v. Weeber, 3 Gray, 263. In the present case, it is found as a fact that the account stated was founded upon sales of intoxicating liquors made in this Commonwealth in violation of law, and it does not appear that the account included any lawful items. It was…
2Cited by7 opinions
- McKay v. MyersMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1897
- Mayberry v. CookCalifornia Supreme Court · 1898
- Milliken v. WarwickMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1940
- Peeples v. YatesMississippi Supreme Court · 1906
- Goodwin v. ClarkSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1876
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