Miller v. Reed
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the District Court of Allegheny county. This was an action of assumpsit by Alexander H. Miller, administrator of William Hopkins, deceased, against William Reed, impleaded with John Christy. The summons was served upon Reed, and returned nihil as to Christy.
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Error to the District Court of Allegheny county. This was an action of assumpsit by Alexander H. Miller, administrator of William Hopkins, deceased, against William Reed, impleaded with John Christy. The summons was served upon Reed, and returned nihil as to Christy. The declaration was on a joint and several promissory note, which was a printed form and the blanks filled up in wi’iting. - The following is a copy of it: “ Pittsburgh, August 10th, 1850. Twelve months after date, we, or either of us, promise to pay to the order of W. W. Walters one thousand dollars, without defalcation, value…
1Opinion of the Court
' The opinion of the court was delivered by
Woodward, J.
It is too well settled to be questioned that any material alteration of commercial paper, unaccounted for by him who holds it, is fatal to it. The maker of a note cannot be expected to account for what may have happened to it after it left his hands; but a payee or endorsee who takes it, condemned and discredited on the face of it, ought to be prepared to show what it was when he received it: Simpson v. Stackhouse, 9 Barr 188.
But was the alteration in this case material ? It consisted, if indeed it was an alteration, in interlining the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Walter v. GinrichSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1834
3Cited by17 opinions
- Commonwealth v. Tradesmen's Trust Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1915
- Mancine v. Concord-Liberty Savings & Loan Ass'nSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1982
- Hartley & Co. v. CorboySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1892
- Willing v. BinenstockSupreme Court of the United States · 1937
- The Kingston Nat. Bk. v. Walters Et Ux.Superior Court of Pennsylvania · 1948
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