Williams v. Root
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The writ of error in this case was brought to reverse a judgment of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for this county, in an action of assumpsit for goods sold and delivered, originally commenced and tried before a justice of the peace, and brought to that court by appeal; the plaintiffs in error having been original plaintiffs and the said Root original defendant.
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The writ of error in this case was brought to reverse a judgment of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for this county, in an action of assumpsit for goods sold and delivered, originally commenced and tried before a justice of the peace, and brought to that court by appeal; the plaintiffs in error having been original plaintiffs and the said Root original defendant. The errors assigned were, that the court permitted the defendant to avail herself of the' statute of limitations, under the general issue of non-assumpsit; that the plaintiffs at the trial moved the court to allow them to give in…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The Common Pleas very properly allowed the statute to be given in evidence under the general issue. The action was commenced before a justice of the peace ; and the construction of the provision in the statute describing the powers of justices, cited in the argument, and the practice under it, has uniformly been to admit every thing, not matter in * abatement merely, to be given in evidence. The words justification or excuse in that act mean every matter which may bar the plaintiff’s right to recover, whether requiring a special plea by the common law or not.
The evidence offered…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Otis v. EllisSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1885