Harman v. Harman

Hatcher, Judge:

In an action on a note, the payor filed a plea setting up an assignment to him of past due alimony decreed to the divorced wife of the plaintiff. The circuit court sustained a demurrer to the plea and certified here its sufficiency.

Under Code, 56-5-4, the defendant, in a suit for any debt, may have allowed against it “any * * * set-off which is so described in his plea * * * as to give the plaintiff notice of its nature.” The statute itself does not define the nature of a set-off; but the decisions agree that the set-off “must be substantially a debt.” Baltimore & O. Rr. Co. v.…