Stewart v. Trustees of Hamilton College
New York Supreme Court
On error from the supreme court. The Trustees of Hamilton College sued Stewart in the court below in assumpsit, to recover a balance of $600, parcel of $800 subscribed by him towards a fund for the payment of the salaries of the officers of the college; which subscription was made at the foot of a paper in the following words: “ Fund for Hamilton College.
Read the full summary
On error from the supreme court. The Trustees of Hamilton College sued Stewart in the court below in assumpsit, to recover a balance of $600, parcel of $800 subscribed by him towards a fund for the payment of the salaries of the officers of the college; which subscription was made at the foot of a paper in the following words: “ Fund for Hamilton College. We, the subscribers, hereby bind ourselves to pay to the trustees of Hamilton College, the sums opposite to our respective names, in four equal annual payments, the first to he made on the first day of August, 1834. The conditions of the…
1Opinion of the CourtNelson, C. J.
Two principal objections have been taken to the right of the plaintiffs to recover: I. That the promise is nudum, pactum, there being po consideration to support it; II. That if valid, the conditions upon which it was made, have not been fulfilled.
1. Every promise for the breach of which an action of assumpsit may be sustained, must he founded upon a consideration of benefit to the defendant, or to a stranger, or of damage or loss to the plaintiff at the request of the defendant; but any act of the plaintiff from which the defendant derives a benefit, or any labor, detriment, or…
2Cases cited6 opinions
- Boyd's Lessee v. GravesSupreme Court of the United States · 1819
- Trustees of Phillips Limerick Academy v. DavisMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1814
- Pearson v. PearsonNew York Supreme Court · 1810
- Utica & Schenectady Railroad v. BrinckerhoffNew York Supreme Court · 1839
- Brooks v. BallNew York Supreme Court · 1820
1 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by8 opinions
- Presb. Church of Albany v. . CooperNew York Court of Appeals · 1889
- Lathrop v. KnappWisconsin Supreme Court · 1870
- Hamilton & Deansville Plank Road Co. v. RiceNew York Supreme Court · 1849
- Wilson v. Baptist Education SocietyNew York Supreme Court · 1851
- Barnes v. PerineNew York Supreme Court · 1850
3 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.