Hackett v. King
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for the conversion of a promissory note, horse and other property. The defendant claimed title to the property under a release or bill of sale from the plaintiff; to which the plaintiff replied that the release was obtained from him through duress and fraud.
Read the full summary
Tort for the conversion of a promissory note, horse and other property. The defendant claimed title to the property under a release or bill of sale from the plaintiff; to which the plaintiff replied that the release was obtained from him through duress and fraud. At the trial in the superior court, before Wilkinson, J., the plaintiff testified that he had been in the employment of the defendant, and a constable arrested him upon a warrant for larceny of money from the defendant, and took him to the defendant’s house and then to the marshal’s office, where, after ■much talk, the plaintiff…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The plaintiff has no legal ground of exception to the instructions that were given to the jury instead of those for which he asked. The instructions which the court gave stated the law correctly.
But the exception to the admission of paroi evidence to prove the issuing of a warrant against the plaintiff, and his arrest thereon, must be sustained. The warrant could be legally proved only by producing it or a verified copy of it, unless upon the defendant’s showing that neither it nor such copy of it could be produced New trial granted.
2Cited by4 opinions
- McGann v. AllenSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1926
- Stembridge v. WrightCourt of Appeals of Georgia · 1924
- Delany v. LindsaySuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1911
- Langdale v. MenendezMassachusetts Superior Court · 1997