111 S.E. 342 | N.C. | 1922
This action was brought for the cancellation of a promissory note for $400, made by the plaintiff to the defendant, upon the ground of duress, and because it was given upon a promise to suppress a criminal prosecution, or to mitigate the punishment of the plaintiff's nephew for the crime of false pretense.
The court gave judgment for the plaintiff, upon admissions in the answer, holding that the note was not enforceable, but was "invalid, null, and void," as against public policy, and ordered that it be delivered up by the defendant to be canceled.
Plaintiff's nephew, J. D. Hinnant, had been arrested under a warrant of a justice of the peace, issued at the request of the defendant, for false pretense. The answer admitted that at the request of the deputy sheriff and Hinnant, J. E. Gill drove Hinnant and deputy sheriff and police officer from Zebulon, N.C. to Fremont, N.C. in order that Hinnant might arrange for his bond and not be committed to jail, Gill stating to Hinnant and the deputy sheriff that he would charge the sum of $20 for the round trip; that arriving at Fremont, Hinnant talked to *292 his uncle, the plaintiff, J. J. Aycock, and to another uncle named Aycock, whose initials this defendant does not now recall; that J. J. Aycock informed the sheriff and the defendant Gill that he had raised J. D. Hinnant and was very much concerned about him; that the plaintiff J. J. Aycock asked the defendant Gill would he release his nephew, Hinnant, if he (the said Aycock) would sign a note guaranteeing the payment of the debt that Hinnant owed the defendant Gill, which then amounted, including the expense of the automobile trip, to $398.95; that the defendant Gill informed the plaintiff Aycock that he could not agree to discharge his nephew, Hinnant, but that if the plaintiff Aycock desired to guarantee the payment of the debt, that he, the said Gill, would state to the court that the same had been settled, and would request the court to be as lenient as possible with said Hinnant; that after some discussion the plaintiff Aycock signed a note, together with said Hinnant, payable to the order of the defendant J. E. Gill, on 1 December, 1920, for $398.95, with interest from its date, 27 July, 1920.
The defendant appealed from the judgment. The defendant, it is true, denied that there was (273) any duress employed in obtaining the note in question, or that the consideration of it was against public policy, and also denied that he had done anything to stifle a criminal prosecution, and in support of this general denial, he stated what was done, which is above set forth. It will not be necessary to inquire if there was any legal duress exercised by the defendant to procure the note, as if the note is void, because the consideration of it is illegal, being against public policy, it is not enforceable whether obtained by duress or not.
The cases in this Court have settled the general principle involved in this case. Blythe v. Lovinggood,
The defendant contends that his admissions do not bring this case within the principle above stated, as he did not agree to stifle a criminal prosecution or to do anything contrary to the public policy, but only agreed, as the consideration for the note given by the plaintiff to him, that he would intercede with the court in behalf of the plaintiff's nephew and induce it to be lenient with him. But we are of opinion that even that consideration was illegal, and rendered the note void. It has been held that agreements to use influence, or tending to encourage the use of influence, with the prosecuting attorney in respect to criminal prosecutions is illegal. 9 Cyc. 502, and note 33, where the cases will be found. Merwin v. Huntington,
It was said in Lindsay v. Smith, 78 N.C. at p. 331, to be a matter of the gravest public concern that all infractions of the criminal law should be detected and punished. A party cannot take care of his private *295 interests by depriving the State of a witness or an active prosecutor, which is the means relied on for the conviction of offenders; much less can he pollute the very fountains of criminal justice by suppressing an indictment already instituted against him. And it has been said that anything inconsistent with the impartial course of justice will not be upheld; even if the intent of the parties is not fraudulent, and although no evil resulted in the particular case. 1 Mod. Amer. Law, p. 125. It is the temptation to do wrong where money is to be received for the service, that does the harm, as it is likely to prevent, obstruct, or prejudice the due administration of justice. In this case, it was not purely voluntary and gratuitous service that was to be performed, but it was to be done under the stimulus of a consideration, the promisor should receive for mitigating the punishment.
It would seem that in this case the object of the defendant, if not his sole object, was to collect his claim against Hinnant through resort to a criminal prosecution, so that he might later, by the use of duress, induce the plaintiff to come to the relief of his nephew, who was being prosecuted, as he did by giving the note, upon the illegal promise that J. E. Gill would induce the court to act with leniency toward the nephew.
If the defendant J. E. Gill had his debt against Hinnant secured, and had promised as a consideration therefor that he would use his influence to mitigate the punishment of Hinnant, the result would be that his interest in the further prosecution of the case would be greatly diminished, if not totally withdrawn, and he would cease to fulfill his duty in the vindication of public justice, or the enforcement of the law. The State, as said in Thompson v. Whitman, supra, would thereby be "deprived of an active prosecutor," and, instead, would be (276) met by passive indifference.
As was said in a somewhat similar case: "Although this case comes, as we think, under familiar principles of law, it is yet somewhat peculiar and novel in its facts; and in this decision we do not intend to trench upon the rights of respondents, or their friends and counsel in their behalf, in the use of all legitimate means of defense." Barron v. Tucker,
Our conclusion is that the court was right in the judgment it rendered upon the pleadings.
Affirmed.
Cited: Johnson v. Pittman,