Hobart v. Howard
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of debt on a bond, conditioned to perform certain articles of agreement of the same date with the bond.
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This was an action of debt on a bond, conditioned to perform certain articles of agreement of the same date with the bond. The articles of agreement were made between Caleb Howard and the plaintiff, on one part, and the defendant on the other part; and in them it was recited that the said Caleb, Thomas, and Apollos, had for some time been copartners in trade, and in manufacturing hollow iron ware, under the firm of Howard Hobart &f Co.; that debts were due to and from said firm; that the parties had agreed that all the debts due to them, the said Caleb, Thomas, and Apollos. jointly, should be…
1Opinion of the Court
Curia.
Without considering the reasonings of the referees, it is plain that all the difficulty in this case has arisen from a misconstruction of the articles of agreement. The defendant undertook to pay all the debts of the copartnership, to whomsoever due. Now, one of the copartners may as well be a creditor of the firm as a stranger ; and if he was, the defendant agreed to pay him. On the other hand, had the plaintiff owed the firm, he would have been held to pay the debt to the defendant. Just as, in the case of aggregate corporations, a corporator may be either a creditor or a debtor of…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Schmidt v. GladeIllinois Supreme Court · 1888
- Niven v. SpickermanNew York Supreme Court · 1815
- Abercrombie v. SpaldingMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1893