8 Vt. 294 | Vt. | 1836
The opinion of the court was delivered by
As a mere promise to indemnify against an outstanding demand does not furnish a cause of action to the promisee, upon his simply becoming liable to a suit on such demand, and as it did not appear in this instance that the plaintiff had paid the debt or any part of it, his right of recovery might depend on the peculiar terms in which the present contract of indemnity was framed. The contract consists of the note for $1150, payable on demand, controlled and qualified by the stipulation endorsed upon it. Taken together they amount to an undertaking to pay into the
It is insisted that the rights of the defendant’s other creditors should control the plaintiff’s remedy under this agreement. But to allow this would be to expose the plaintiff to a heavy loss, by depriving him of that security without which he probably would not have made himself accountable : it would be to abrogate the most important part of his contract. The statute has enabled these creditors to urge every legal defence to the action — every defence of which the defendant, if disposed to contest the right.of recovery, could avail himself, either for his own benefit, or that of his Other creditors. T his is the only privilege conferred by the statute, and with this the creditors must be satisfied.
Judgment of county court affirmed.