Dinsmore v. Webber
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
ON REPORT. Assumpsit to recover three hundred dollars, money received by the defendant from the town of China as the bounty for the enlistment upon China’s quota into the military service of the United States, of the plaintiff’s intestate.
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ON REPORT. Assumpsit to recover three hundred dollars, money received by the defendant from the town of China as the bounty for the enlistment upon China’s quota into the military service of the United States, of the plaintiff’s intestate. The writ was dated Feb. 10,1869, and it contained one count on an account annexed, and another for money had and received on January 9, 1864. The receipt of the money being admitted by the defendant, the plaintiff stopped; whereupon the defendant offered to prove that tbe plaintiff’s intestate was a minor about seventeen years of age, lawfully bound to Mm…
1Opinion of the CourtAppleton, C. J.
The bounty money paid upon a minor’s enlistment belongs to the person enlisting and not to his parent or master. The alleged contract between the plaintiff’s intestate and the defendant was voidable, and might haye been avoided by him during his life-time. Mears. v. Bickford, 55 Maine, 528; Kelley v. Sprowle, 97 Mass. 169; Banks v. Conant, 14 Allen, 497.
The plaintiff represents the intestate and has his right of rescission. Hardy v. Waters, 38 Maine, 450; Roberts v. Wiggin, 1 N. H. 74; Person v. Chase, 37 Vt. 647; Hussey v. Jewett, 9 Mass. 100.
As the infant could have rescinded the alleged…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Hussey v. JewettMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1812
- Kelly v. SproutMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
- Person v. ChaseSupreme Court of Vermont · 1865