33 Iowa 309 | Iowa | 1871
Lead Opinion
I. Three errors are assigned, the first and second of which we will consider togecher. They are: 1. The court erred in admitting improper testimony; 2. That the court erred in excluding proper testimony offered by appellant.
There is no attempt to give all the evidence; not even its substance is given in the record. There are six separate bills of exceptions, each giving a small portion of evidence and the ruling of the court admitting or excluding certain testimony, but in no instance is there enough of the evidence given to enable us to determine Whether the several rulings of the- court were erróiieouá ' or otherwise. ’ • ' ' •
II. The third error assigned is, the refusal of the court to give the instructions asked by appellant.
Affirmed.
Rehearing
A rehearing upon the petition of plaintiff was granted in this case, and it was again argued orally and by printed arguments. Many points have been ingeniously made, and most zealously and ably pressed by plaintiff’s counsel upon the rehearing. ¥e have carefully considered them and feel satisfied that our conclusions heretofore announced are correct.
The prime difficulty with plaintiff’s case upon this appeal is, that the record does not disclose the facts upon which most of his objections are based. This is the case with the points made upon the court’s ruling on the evidence, as pointed out in our former opinion.
I. Before considering the case further, we will proceed to state the issues as presented by the pleadings. The petition alleges that plaintiff bought certain cattle of one Brooks, whereby he became the absolute and unqualified owner thereof; that afterward the defendant, without the knowledge or consent of plaintiff, “wrongfully, illegally and fraudulently ” took the cattle and converted them to his own use. This is the gist of the petition. The allegations as to the person in whose possession the cattle were, when taken by defendant; the purpose for which he held
II. Under the • issues found by these pleadings, the case was tried. Upon the trial defendant was permitted to give in evidence certain declarations of Brooks in regard to furnishing money to defendant to pay firm debts, his failure to do so, and his declarations concerning the dissolution of the firm. Defendant was also permitted to show the amount of the firm debts, and that he had applied the proceeds of the sale of the cattle in dispute to the payment of the firm debts.- Evidence was also introduced as to the acts of defendant and his agent in regard to certain hogs belonging to the firm, and sold by Brooks. All of this evidence was objected to by plaintiff, and its admis
III.' The plaintiff requested the court to give certain instructions to the jury. They were all refused, and this ruling is assigned for error. The record is at fault in failing to contain sufficient of the evidence' to enable us to pass upon the pertinency of all of these instructions. A part of the refused instructions were substantially given by the court upon its own motion. The first instruction is sufficiently covered by the thirteenth given by the court; the fourth asked by plaintiff is substantially embodied in' the ninth by the court, or at least so much of it as is shown by the meager statement of the evidence to be based on the proof.
IY. The second and third instructions are based upon the theory that defendant claims a Hen upon the cattle for a balance due him on account of the partnership matters. The record does not show that defendant was insisting upon a Hen in his favor.
This is not the law. A sale of tn^-interest of one partner in that way would dissolve thd'^firm, and the other would have the right to retain the partnership property for the purpose of settling the business of the firm free from the interference of the purchaser. Reece v. Hoyt, 4 Ind. 169. The fact that defendant agreed to permit Brooks to sell his interest does not imply that he agreed that the purchaser should acquire the right to take the property or to prosecute defendant at law for its value.
VI. The facts upon which the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th instructions are based do not sufficiently appear by the record to have been before the jury. The first three of those assume that the evidence tended to establish a1 conditional sale by defendant to Brooks, to be completed upon a settlement between the parties. We do not find that proof of any such contract was given to the jury. The last of these instructions refers to admissions made by counsel in argument. The record discloses nothing of the kind.
VII. Plaintiff’s tenth instruction is to the effect that the fact of the indebtedness of Brooks to defendant on account of the firm business, upon a settlement thereof, is immaterial. But such fact, under the answer charging fraud on the part of Brooks, and plaintiff’s knowledge thereof, is relevant evidence and was properly before the jury.
VIII. Two instructions, given by the court to the jury and no other, are objected to by plaintiff’s counsel. The first one is to the effect that a sale on condition that the title shall not pass until some act is done by the purchaser,
IX. As we have before intimated the points made by appellant’s counsel are not supported by the record, errors must be made to appear affirmatively, and presumptions are exercised in favor of the ruling of the court below. It becomes essential, in order to show error in the refusal to give instructions, or upon rulings admitting or excluding evidence, to show the pertinency of the instructions refused, or the relevancy of the evidence admitted or irrelevancy of that which is rejected. It is necessary in such case that sufficient of the evidence should appear in the record for these purposes. It is not necessary to give the substance or form of the evidence, but simply to state the facts which it tended to establish. This may be briefly done, and with little labor, and answer better the purposes of an appeal in all cases, except when the point is made that the verdict or judgment is not supported by the evidence. In the case before us, detached parts of the evidence are given in several bills of exceptions. The attempt, in each case, is to give the evidence and not what it tended to prove or what was claimed to be established thereby. Brief bills of exceptions, directly stating the facts which the evidence tended to establish, and the substance of the proof offered or admitted, in the cases where rulings upon evidence were excepted to, would have saved
We adhere to the conclusions announced in our former opinion.
Affirmed.