60 Iowa 727 | Iowa | 1883
If the defendant in this case simply intended to acknowledge, the receipt of $200 to be delivered to plaintiff’s son, as is claimed, it is incredible that he should, instead of a receipt, have executed his promissory note payable in twelve mouths, with interest at eight per cent. -It is apparant that, to admit such evidence as was offered in this case, would render written instruments of little value, and open wide the door for fraud and perjury.
ceipt of this money, in connection with the contemporaneous execution of the note, raises a legal presumption that the $200 constituted the consideration of the note. To rebut this presumption, the defendant claims that he may prove a contemporaneous agreement, showing the transaction to be altogether different from what the law imports, and which would in fact transform the note into a mere memorandum of a different agreement. This cannot be done under pretext of showing a want of consideration. The cases of Atherton v. Dearmond and Barhydt v. Bonney, bear directly upon, and are decisive of, this question.
Aeeirmed.