Ayres v. Harness
Ohio Supreme Court
This was an action of debt brought upon a sealed bill, and the •case made by the pleadings and submitted for the decision of the court was as follows: The defendant, Harness, being indebted to the plaintiff a sum of money, the exact amount of which was not ascertained, made his seal and wrote his name in connection with it, upon a blank sheet of paper, and authorized the plaintiff to write over it a note for the sum found to be due, and the subscribing witness attested this…
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This was an action of debt brought upon a sealed bill, and the •case made by the pleadings and submitted for the decision of the court was as follows: The defendant, Harness, being indebted to the plaintiff a sum of money, the exact amount of which was not ascertained, made his seal and wrote his name in connection with it, upon a blank sheet of paper, and authorized the plaintiff to write over it a note for the sum found to be due, and the subscribing witness attested this sealing and subscribing. The paper thus signed and sealed was delivered to the plaintiff an entire blank, who wrote over…
1Opinion of the Court
*By the Court :
The ancient law was well settled that a valid deed could not be made by writing it over a signature and seal, made upon a blank or an empty sheet of paper. We know of no decision by which *373this ancient doctrine is overruled. The case cited by the plaintiff’s counsel are of promissory notes not under seal, and of deeds where all the material parts were written at the time of making the signature and seal. They are not analogous. An authority to fill one particular blank falls far short of an authority to make an entire deed. While the distinction between contracts under seal and…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Vermont Accident Insurance v. FletcherSupreme Court of Vermont · 1914
- Schueler v. LynamOhio Court of Appeals · 1947
- Security Bank v. HawkOhio Supreme Court · 1988
- Security Bank v. HawkOhio Supreme Court · 1988