87 Pa. 63 | Pa. | 1878
delivered the opinion of the court,
The rule to open the judgment in this case, was made absolute by consent of the parties, and no conditions were imposed upon the defendants. The plaintiff must therefore prove his case as on a new trial: Carron v. Coulter, 2 Grant 131. Hence, the court erred in holding the judgment itself to be an important fact in the issue trying. The order opening the judgment vacated it, except for the purposes of lien, and whether the plaintiff was ever again to recover it depended upon the case which should be presented to the court and jury. The only question we have before us is, whether the consideration of the note of Ham et al. to Smith, could be made the subject of judicial inquiry? That that consideration was in fact illegal is not doubtful. According to Smith’s own testimony, it was proposed by a committee of his party, that he, as the nominee for representative, should withdraw in order that Nelson might be substituted. This he agreed to do, if they would pay him the sum
Were the doctrine otherwise, every illegal contract, however much opposed it might be to public morality or even to common decency, might be readily and securely covered from judicial inquiry by the mere interposition of a note or bond. Were it only a question between the parties we might leave them to the consequences of their own contracts, but it is not so; it extends further and involves the public welfare, and we certainly know that the best way to suppress any public vice is to make it unprofitable.
Judgment reversed, and a venire facias de novo awarded.