Commercial National Bank of Chicago v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.

45 Wis. 172
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 45 Wis. 172 (Commercial National Bank of Chicago v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commercial National Bank of Chicago v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., 45 Wis. 172 (Wis. 1878).

Opinion

Oetok, J".

The first question of law raised by the answer is, whether the facts stated, that the garnishee is indebted to the defendant Everest for services rendered by him in the state of Illinois, under a contract by which the payment for the same was to be made in the city of Chicago in that state, and not elsewhere, defeats a recovery against the garnishee.

It is contended by the learned counsel of the respondent, 1st. That these facts constitute a contract of indebtedness payable at a particular place and nowhere else, and that therefore no recovery can be had without a demand and refusal of payment at that place. 2d. That these facts make the liability of the garnishee a chose in action, existing and to be enforced only within the state of Illinois, and beyond the reach of garnishee proceedings in the courts of this state.

The answer is perhaps defective in some important particulars, and does not give us full possession of these questions. 1st. It does not state the time when the indebtedness was payable. 2d. That no demand and refusal was ever made in the state of Illinois. 3d. That the garnishee was ready and willing to pay the indebtedness at the place named, and had suffered damage in consequence of the demand not being made at that place.

It would seem that, in order to set up the peculiar features of this contract in defense to this proceeding, the whole contract, in all its terms, should have been stated, and such other facts as would cleai’ly show that the garnishee was not in default upon the contract, and not liable upon it to respond in this proceeding.

Treating this contract of indebtedness in analogy to a promissory note payable at a particular place, by many respectable authorities in this country, whether a demand must be made [176]*176at that place before suit would depend upon whether the debt was payable on a day certain or on dema/nd. 1 Parsons on Notes and Rills, p. 429; Wallace v. McConnell, 13 Peters, 136; Bank of N. C. v. Bank of Cape Fear, 13 Iredell, 75; Armi stead v. Armisteads, 10 Leigh, 512; Caldwell v. Cassidy, 8 Cow., 271; Stowe v. Colburn, 30 Maine, 32; Dougherty v. Western Bank, 13 Ga., 287.

But in either ease the law seems to be well settled in this country, that a demand at the place named in the contract, bill or note, before suit, is not necessary; but that no such demand was made is matter of defense on the part of the debtor, that he had funds at the place named, and was ready to make payment on demand at that place, and has suffered damage in consequence of the failure to make such demand, but not in bar of the suit. The doctrine of the necessity of a demand at the particular place named, upon the maker of a promissory note or the acceptor of a bill of exchange, is held more stringently in the English and some of the American courts, on account of the negotiability of the paper and as affecting the liability of indorsers.

In England, before the statute of 1 and 2 Geo. IY., c. 78, demand of payment at the place designated was a condition precedent to the right of action against the acceptor of a bill; but that statute has entirely changed the rule in England, and made a demand upon the acceptor personally sufficient in all cases, except when the contract designates the place of payment with the additional words, and not elsewhere. Rowe v. Young, 2 Brod. & Bing., 165; Chitty on Bills, 8th ed., ch. 5, p. 172; Halstead v. Skelton, 5 Adolph. & Ell., N. S., 86; Story’s Bills of Ex., § 355. But this exception was made to qualify the English statute, without which that statute would be in harmony with the rule almost universally recognized in this country, that demand at the place named before suit is not necessary. Wolcott v. Van Santvoord, 17 Johns., 248; Ruggles v. Patten, 8 Mass., 480; Haxtun v. Bishop, 3 Wend., 13; Cuyter v. Stevens, 4 id., 566; Edwards on Bills and Notes, 480-483.

The words not elsewhere, inserted in the contract, do not [177]*177make the payment conditional upon a demand at the place named. U. S. Bank v. Smith, 11 Wheat., 171; Wallace v. McConnell, 13 Peters, 136; Fairchilds v. Ogdensburgh, etc., 15 N. Y., 337; Fitler v. Beckley, 2 Watts & Serg., 458; Story’s Bills of Ex., 356, and note 4; Edwards on Bills and Notes, 309, and authorities collated’in note “A.”

This court has virtually recognized this doctrine, in Davis v. Barron, 13 Wis., 228, and in Howard v. Boorman, 17 id., 460, in which last case the late eminent Mr. Justice Paine says, in his opinion: “But it is too well settled to need examination here, that when a note is payable at a particular place, it is not essential, in maintaining an action against the *maker, to show a demand at that place at the time it fell due.” It is true that this language is used in relation to an alleged defect in the complaint, in not averring a demand and refusal at the designated place of payment; but the rule is broadly ■stated, and is sanctioned by overwhelming authority.

It is no doubt true, as claimed by the learned counsel, that the garnishee, by this proceeding, could not be made to pay this debt where or when not bound to pay it to Everest, the original creditor; but, the law being as above stated, Everest might have brought suit against the company for his services without any previous demand at or in the city of Chicago, although it was stipulated that payment should be at that place and “ not elsewhere.”

It seems naturally to follow, that Everest might bring such suit in the courts of Illinois or of any other state where jurisdiction of the company could have been obtained, and the bringing of the suit in any other state would not be impeded by this stipulation in the contract.

If the law were otherwise, the only possible effect of such a stipulation in this contract of indebtedness would be to require demand of payment in the city of Chicago before suit; but most clearly it could not determine the jurisdiction in which suit upon it could be brought, or localize the debt, as a chose in action, to the city of Chicago or state of Illinois, so as to be beyond the reach of garnishee proceedings in another [178]*178state, without the concurrence of other conditions affecting the question of jurisdiction. The principle so ably contended for by the learned counsel of the respondent, that the garnishee cannot be called upon to answer for this debt except in the courts of Illinois, because payable in the city of Chicago and not elsewhere, will be found to depend, not so much upon the place of payment as upon the residence of the parties to the contract, one or both, in the state where the place of payment named in such contract is situated.

The rule laid down in the authority cited, Drake on Attach., § 474, is as follows: “That whether the defendant reside or not in the state in which the attachment is obtained, a nonresident cannot be subjected to garnishment there, unless, when garnished, he have in that state property of the defendant in his hands, or be bound to pay the defendant money, or to deliver to him goods at some particular place in the state.” In Tingley v. Bateman, 10 Mass., 343, the same rule is more clearly and fully expressed. “The summoning of a trustee is like a process in rem. A chose in action

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Bluebook (online)
45 Wis. 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commercial-national-bank-of-chicago-v-chicago-milwaukee-st-paul-wis-1878.