142 N.Y.S. 497 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1913
The action was to recover upon a promissory note made by the defendant and delivered to the Henry J. McCoy Company in payment for a steam hammer, and by the Henry J. McCoy Company endorsed and delivered before maturity to the plaintiff in payment of a pre-existing debt.
The trial justice admitted evidence over plaintiff’s objection and exception, tending to prove that the steam hammer was not as represented and had been
That law provides, section 5: “ What constitutes consideration. Value is any consideration sufficient to support a simple contract. An antecedent or preexisting debt constitutes value; and is deemed such whether the instrument is payable on demand or at a future time.”
Section 52. “ What constitutes holder for value. Where value has at any time been given for the instrument, the holder is deemed a. holder for value in respect to all parties who became such prior to that time. ’ ’
Courts of this state at first refused to recognize in this enactment the legislative intent to change the rule that had been recognized and enforced in this state since 1822 and held that this provision of the Negotiable Instruments Law had not abrogated the rule announced in Coddington v. Bay, 20 Johns. 637. See
In the case at bar the plaintiff was a holder of the note for value and the equities that might have existed between the maker and payee were not available to the maker as a defense against the endorsee. Neg. Inst. Law, § 96. Failure of consideration is not one of the defenses specified in section 94 of the Negotiable Instruments Law which throws upon the plaintiff the burden of establishing his bona fide position.
Seabury and Bijur, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed and new trial ordered, with costs to appellant to abide event.