14 Ala. 465 | Ala. | 1848
It is an established rule, that an admission made during, or in consequence of, a proposition to compromise, is inadmissible against the party making it. An offer to pay a sum of money, in order to purchase one’s peace and adjust a pending or threatened litigation, if not acceded to, cannot with propriety be called an admission, which can only be predicated of existing facts — it is an unaccepted proposition — a matter in feasance, which rather negatives, the present existence of what is proposed to be done. If such an offer carry orx its face the character of a peace offering, it
In the case at bar, the proposition which the defendant authorized Farmer to make to the plaintiff was professedly a peace offering, which, so far from admitting an indebtedness, expressly denies it, and was therefore rightfully rejected as evidence for the plaintiff. The letter which was subsequently written, must be considered with reference to the authority which the defendant had previously given to Farmer to compromise with the plaintiff, as it refers to it, in terms too plain to leave room to doubt its meaning and purpose. It was nothing more than a withdrawal of that authority, until
It was not only competent, but the duty of the court to decide upon the admissibility of.the evidence — its decision we have seen, was in conformity to law, and the judgment is therefore affirmed.