United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Clark v. Robert Young & Co., 5 U.S. 1 Cranch 181 181 (1803)

Clark v. Robert Young & Company

5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 181

Syllabus

Action for goods sold and delivered in Virginia. The defendants in error had sold to the plaintiff a quantity of salt, and afterwards received from him a promissory note payable at a future day, which was endorsed by the vendee of the goods, the plaintiff in error. The note being protested, suit was instituted against the vendee as endorser of the note, and a judgment was obtained in his favor on the ground that, by the law of Virginia, an action could not be maintained against the endorser of a promissory note until after judgment had been obtained against the drawer and proof of his insolvency. This suit was brought on the original contract.

Held that this action on the original contract could be maintained against the vendee of the goods, and that the judgment in the suit on the note against the vendors was not a bar to the same.

That although the endorser of the note, the plaintiff in error, is entitled to the benefit of the note, yet as it was not an extinguishment of the original debt, there was no absolute necessity to prove an offer of the note before the institution of the suit against him as vendee of the goods.

Page 5 U. S. 190