Anderson v. Spence

72 Ind. 315
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1880
DocketNo. 7556
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 72 Ind. 315 (Anderson v. Spence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Spence, 72 Ind. 315 (Ind. 1880).

Opinion

Elliott, J.

— Mary Sullenger was indicted by the grand! jury of the Gibson Circuit Court for assault and battery with intent to kill, and was in custody upon that charge. Anderson, the appellant, desired to secure her release, and procured Spence, the appellee,to enter into the usual recognizance for her appearance at the next term thereafter of' the said circuit court. To induce the appellee to enter into, the recognizance, the appellant verbally agreed to indemnify him against all loss, and to save him harmless from all liabilities, costs and charges. The recognizance was forfeited, and appellee compelled by process of law to pay the stipulated penalty. ' He sued the appellant upon his oral promise and obtained a judgment from which this appeal is. prosecuted.

Appellant contends that the contract upon which the actioni is founded creates-no liability, and in support of his con[316]*316tentiou states and argues these two general propositions: 1st. There was no consideration to support the promise made to appellee; 2d. That, as the agreement was not in writing, it is void, because it is a contract to answer for the default of another, and, therefore, within the statute of frauds.

There is nothing in the first proposition deserving discussion, and we put it aside with the remark that appellant got all the consideration he stipulated for; and he is not now in a position to make a complaint (at least with mucbi prospect of having it heeded) of lack of consideration.

The second proposition involves an inquiry into the nature of the oral agreement upon which appellee relies. If it is an original agreement, it is not within the, statute; if a collateral one, it is. The great weight of authority is, that •an original agreement is not within the statute, although it may directly concern a third person, or relate to the performance of some act by one not a party to the contract. Thatcher v. Rockwell, 4 Col. 375; Edenfield v. Canady, 60 Ga. 456; Hartley v. Varner, 88 Ill. 561; Johnson v. Knapp, 36 Iowa, 616; Smith v. Cramer, 39 Iowa, 413; Lester v. Bowman, 39 Iowa, 611; Emerson v. Slater, 22 How. 28; De Wolf v. Rabaud, 1 Pet. 476; Morrison v. Baker, 81 N. C. 76; Spooner y. Dunn, 7 Ind. 81; Crawford v. King, 54 Ind. 6; Billingsley v. Dempewolf, 11 Ind. 414; Carpenter v. Davis, 6 Blackf. 367; Nelson v. Hardy, 7 Ind. 364; Beaty v. Grim, 18 Ind. 131.

The general rule) as we have stated it., is, in its terms, clear, and is well supported by the authorities, but there is much difficulty in determining what are original and what collateral agreements. The cases upon this point are much in [317]*317Ind. 78, where it was held, “An oral promise by A. to B. to indemnify B. against loss, if he will become replevin bail for C., is void under the statute of frauds.” The case was not very carefully considered, and very few of the adjudged cases seem to have been brought to the attention of the court. The case of Brush v. Carpenter, 6 Ind. 78, did not receive any direct notice from the time it was decided, except a bare reference in two cases, until the decision in Horn v. Bray, 51 Ind. 555, where it was cited and commented upon at much length, and declared to lay down an erroneous rule, the court saying: “The ruling in Brush v. Carpenter is against the current of American adjudications, and has-been, in effect, though not expressly, overruled by the subsequent decisions of this State.” The question in Horn v. Bray, 51 Ind. 555, was whether a verbal contract of indemnity as between sureties was valid, and it was not there necessary to expressly approve or directly overrule Brush v. Carpenter. Here we must approve or condemn. There is-not a little confusion in our own cases upon the subject of what is an original and what a collateral contract, but the-weight is decidedly against the doctrine of Brush v. Carpenter.

The English cases have not been at all harmonious. The old case of Winckworth v. Mills, 2 Esp. 484, held that a promise of indemnity was within the statute, but in Thomas v. Cook, 8 B. & C. 728, the contrary doctrine was declared. Thomas v. Cook was, in turn, overruled in Green v. Cresswell, 10 A. & E. 453. For a long time the doctrine of Green v. Cresswell has been viewed with disfavor, and it was, long before its overthrow, often severely censured, notably so in the cases of Batson v. King, 4 H. & N. 739, and Cripps v. Hartnoll, 4 Best & S. 414. After a long struggle, the doctrine of Green v. Cresswell was directly overthrown in Reader v. Kingham, 13 C. B., n. s. 344. In the later case of Wildes v. Dudlow, L. R., 19 Eq. Cas. 198, Reader v. King-[318]*318ham is expressly approved, the court saying that the case of Thomas v. Cook, 8 B. & C. 728, was decided “upon the plainest principles of common sense and justice.”

While the doctrine of Green v. Cresswell, supra, was still recognized as the law of England, the courts declared that there was an important and broad distinction between the undertaking as surety in civil cases and that as bail in criminal proceedings. This doctrine is stated with clearness and force by Pollock, C. B., in Cripps v. Hartnoll, 4 Best & S. 414 (116 Eng. C. L. 116). This learned judge, after speaking of Green v. Cresswell, supra, said: “But there is a great distinction between that case and the present. Here the bail was given in a criminal proceeding; and, where bail is given in such a proceeding, there is no contract on the part of the person bailed to indemnify the person who became bail for him. There is no debt, and, with respect to the person who bails, there is hardly a duty; and it may very well be that the promise to indemnify the bail in a criminal matter should be considered purely as an indemnity, which it has been decided to be. Now it has b'een laid down that a mere promise of indemnity is not within the statute of frauds, and there are many cases which would exemplify the correctness of that decision.” The English cases, therefore, establish a rale which would take the present case out of the statute, even though it be conceded that the doctrine of Green v. Cresswell should be deemed the correct one. We confess, however, that it seems to us that there was a real conflict between the doctrine of Green v. Oresswell and that of Cripps v. Hartnoll, and that the distinction attempted to be made by the latter case was simply an effort to get rid of an unsound doctrine without expressly overruling it. Green v. Cresswell was always in conflict with the English cases, and there are many of them holding, to borrow the language of the cases, “That the debt or default must be toward the promisee.” Eastwood v. Kenyon, 11 [319]*319A. & E. 438; Fitzgerald v. Dressler, 7 C. B., n. s. 374. There is no “debt or default toward the promisee” in cases where one person becomes bail for another at the request of a third. In such a case, it is impossible to conceive a debt or default as existing toward the promisee.

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Bluebook (online)
72 Ind. 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-spence-ind-1880.