143 Ga. 48 | Ga. | 1915
The National Bank of Wilkes brought suit against J. E. Heard on a promissory note dated September 3, 1912, for $200, with interest at eight per cent., due April 1, 1913, payable to the order of the maker, and indorsed by him. The defendant-pleaded, that the note was given for ten shares of stock in a corporation known as the Southern Beverage Company of Augusta, Georgia; that it was sold to the defendant by traveling salesmen traveling for the purpose of making such sales; that it did not have expressed upon its face the consideration or kind of stock for which it was given, as required by the act of 1912 (Acts 1912, p. 153), and was therefore void. He also pleaded want of consideration and failure of consideration; that the note was obtained from him by fraudulent representations; and that the plaintiff was not a purchaser bona fide, for value, and without notice. On the trial the presiding judge directed a verdict for the plaintiff. The defendant’s motion for a new trial was overruled, and he excepted.
The act of August 17, 1912, declares that all promissory notes, contracts, or other evidences of debt, given for the purchase-price of stock in any incorporated company, and sold by any peddler, agent, or traveling salesman or promoter, traveling for the purpose of making sales, shall have expressed on the face of such notes, contracts, or other evidences of debt, the consideration thereof, it is provided that the act shall not apply to sales after the original purchase-price has been paid and certificates of stock have been issued. It is further declared that any person who may purchase any note, contract, or other evidence of debt, given for such stock, “when the consideration is expressed in the face of the note or contract as required in section 1, whether before due and without notice or otherwise, where the consideration is so expressed, shall take the same with all the equities existing between the original parties and the maker of such note, contract, or other evidence of debt, and the maker shall havd the right to make any defense to the payment of same as against such purchasers that could have been made against the original payee.” It is made a misdemeanor to sell stock without expressing the consideration in the face of the note, contract, or other evidence of debt taken therefor. While this act requires the sellers of such stock to express the consideration on the face of the note or contract taken therefor, and makes it a misdemeanor to fail to do so, it does not declare that the note
In 1897 a somewhat similar act was passed in regard to promissory notes or other evidences of debt, taken for the purchase-price of any patent, copy, or proprietary right, or territory for the sale thereof, or for the sale of any patented or copyrighted article or thing. Civil Code (1910), § 4293. It was held by this court that a promissory note given for the purchase-price of a patent right, which failed to comply with the act in not expressing upon its face the consideration therefor, or stating the thing or article for which it was given, was not void in the hands of a bona Me holder. Smith v. Wood, 111 Ga. 221 (36 S. E. 649); Parr v. Erickson, 115 Ga. 873 (42 S. E. 240); Hunt v. Davenport, 138 Ga. 622 (75 S. E. 644). The rulings made in those cases practically control that now under consideration as to the point above mentioned.
Judgment affirmed.