Wagonseller v. Snyder
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
ERROR to the common pleas of Union county. John Snyder against Jacob Wagonseller. Appeal from the judgment of a justice. Jfarr. in assumpsit, for a horse sold and delivered. The plaintiff and defendant had wagered a horse upon the result of the election of Lycoming county.
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ERROR to the common pleas of Union county. John Snyder against Jacob Wagonseller. Appeal from the judgment of a justice. Jfarr. in assumpsit, for a horse sold and delivered. The plaintiff and defendant had wagered a horse upon the result of the election of Lycoming county. When the parties were making the bet, something was said between them respecting the relative value of the horses, and the defendant agreed that if he lost his horse by the result of the election, instead of giving the horse, he would pay the plaintiff 40 dollars. The horses were placed at livery to await the result. After…
1Per curiam
The act was intended to avoid all bets, paid or *344unpaid, and to suppress every thing connected with the practice. It is the duty of the courts, therefore, to give it entire effect, and not to force an actual wager into the similitude of something else. This wager, with an appended agreement to purchase back the thing betted at a stated price, was strangely converted into a sale, though it was in effect a bet of the sum named, it having been agreed to withdraw the animal from the transaction as soon as it should have played its part. Could that device succeed, the statute might be eluded in…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Forscht v. GreenSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1866
- Fritz v. McGeehan, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County1923