Starratt v. Mullen
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract, on an account annexed, for clothes sold and delivered and money lent. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Lathrop, J., the defendant admitted that the clothes were delivered by the plaintiffs to him, and that he received the money, but contended, and offered evidence tending to show, that he lent to the plaintiffs four thousand dollars, for which they gave him their promissory notes, in which nothing was said about interest, and that when he lent the money…
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Contract, on an account annexed, for clothes sold and delivered and money lent. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Lathrop, J., the defendant admitted that the clothes were delivered by the plaintiffs to him, and that he received the money, but contended, and offered evidence tending to show, that he lent to the plaintiffs four thousand dollars, for which they gave him their promissory notes, in which nothing was said about interest, and that when he lent the money to the plaintiffs they orally agreed that for the use of the money they would pay him the sum of twenty dollars per week…
1Opinion of the CourtHolmes, J.
Whether the agreement set up by the defendant could have been enforced or not, the plaintiffs were at liberty to perform it if they saw fit, and if they furnished the clothes in pursuance of it, they could not recover in this action. Marvin *571v. Mandell, 125 Mass. 562. The contract is not relied on as an executory or binding undertaking, but simply to show that the plaintiffs delivered the clothes- upon an executed consideration, in which case, as in that of a gift, they did not deliver them for pay to be received thereafter.
The ruling as to the burden of proof was correct. Phipps v. Mahon, 141…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Phipps v. MahonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886
- Commonwealth v. DevlinMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886
- Marvin v. MandellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1878
3Cited by22 opinions
- First National Bank v. FordWyoming Supreme Court · 1923
- United States v. United States Gypsum Co.District Court, District of Columbia · 1946
- Wylie v. MarinofskyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1909
- General Dynamics Corp. v. Federal Pacific Electric Co.Massachusetts Appeals Court · 1985
- Hunting v. DownerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
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