M'Doal v. Yeomans
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
THIS writ of error was brought up from the common pleas of Susquehanna county; the record of an action on a contract of guaranty endorsed on a promissory note for eleven dollars and eighty-nine cents, drawn on the 19th of December 1835, by Jonas R. Adams, and made payable to Samuel Yeomans or bearer, at ten days from the date. The guaranty was in these words: “ This may certify, that I warrant the within to be collectible. Brooklyn, June 11, J836. Samuel Yeomans.”
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THIS writ of error was brought up from the common pleas of Susquehanna county; the record of an action on a contract of guaranty endorsed on a promissory note for eleven dollars and eighty-nine cents, drawn on the 19th of December 1835, by Jonas R. Adams, and made payable to Samuel Yeomans or bearer, at ten days from the date. The guaranty was in these words: “ This may certify, that I warrant the within to be collectible. Brooklyn, June 11, J836. Samuel Yeomans.” The execution of it being admitted at the trial, the plaintiff offered, in excuse .of the want of an action against the maker,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
If the maker was insolvent, the contract was broken the instant it was made, and the guarantee had an immediate right of action on it. The words of a guarantor are to be taken as strongly against him as the sense will bear, tempered, however, by the circumstances of the occasion. To warrant that a debt is collectible, therefore, is to warrant that it is legally demandable, and that the debtor is of competent ability to answer it —not that he will pay it when demanded by execution. That an execution would be a very satisfactory test of his…
2Cited by16 opinions
- Dyer v. GibsonWisconsin Supreme Court · 1863
- Allen v. RundleSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1882
- Bosman v. AkeleyMichigan Supreme Court · 1878
- Brackett v. RichSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1877
- Briggs v. LathamSupreme Court of Kansas · 1887
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