Bacon v. Cannon

7 Del. 47

• Court: Superior Court of Delaware
• Decided: July 5, 1859
• Status: Published

Opinion

The Court,

Gilpin, CL J.

charged the Jury ; That if persons, though not in point of fact partners, hold themselves out as partners, and deal with and obtain goods on credit, as such, of others, they will be liable in an action at law as partners to such persons. If therefore the defendants had dealt with the plaintiff and purchased the goods in question of him in their joint name and style of William and James Cannon as partners, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover in the present action, notwithstanding their denial, even by their affidavit, of the partnership. And although as part owners, or tenants in common merely of the vessel, they would not be liable as partners, and could not be sued as such; still that circumstance together with their joint action in procuring and purchasing lumber and other freights in their joint name, and in superintending the shipment of it together, with the style and name in which their drafts were drawn in their joint name of William and James Cannon, were all matters proper to be taken into consideration by the jury in determining the question whether the defendants dealt with the plaintiff as partners in the transaction referred to; and if they were satisfied of that fact, or were satisfied from the evidence before them that they were in fact partners in the business carried on by them, then their verdict should be for the plaintiff; otherwise for the defendants.