Allison v. James
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to the common pleas of Centre county. This was an action of assumpsit, founded upon a book account by James James against James Allison. The defendant pleaded non assumpsit infra sex annos, to avoid which the plaintiff called a witness who said: “I was present before the justice at the trial; this account was presented and admitted. It was read to him and he made no objection to it. Items read ; amount 22 dollars and 37 cents.
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ERROR to the common pleas of Centre county. This was an action of assumpsit, founded upon a book account by James James against James Allison. The defendant pleaded non assumpsit infra sex annos, to avoid which the plaintiff called a witness who said: “I was present before the justice at the trial; this account was presented and admitted. It was read to him and he made no objection to it. Items read ; amount 22 dollars and 37 cents. He did not say this account was settled and paid long ago. He did not say any thing; several attempts to settle before we went before the justice; did not object…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Rogers, J.
An unqualified promise to pay a debt, takes it out of the act of limitations. So the acknowledgment of a debt, consistent with a promise to pay, has been repeatedly held to produce the same effect. But the latter must be an express acknowledgment of a subsisting debt. The fact of acknowledgment must *381not be left to conjecture. And this is the clear result of the principle ruled in Hager v. Bear, reported in 5 Watts 111. A promise, as is there said, to bind the party, ought to be alike, in every case his deliberate act, and policy requires,…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Hogan v. BearSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1836
3Cited by3 opinions
- Palmer v. GillespieSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1880
- Kensington Bank v. PattonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1850
- Emerson v. Miller & CantwellSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1856