Shreve v. Joyce

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Bedle, J.

The chief question for our solution is, whether a promise by one of two or more executors is sufficient to take a debt of the testator out of the statute of limitations.

Very little can be gathered from the English books on this subject, as the whole matter is controlled by the act of 9 Geo. IV, c. 14, § 1, known as Lord Tenterden’s act, which provides that the promise shall be in writing, and then, that the promise shall only affect the executor making it. Previous to that act, the law had not been sufficiently declared by the English courts…