55 Wis. 173 | Wis. | 1882
The complaint charges the defendant with having obtained from plaintiff the sum of $1,650 by duress of imprisonment upon a void warrant for fornication with one Mary Jane Swartz, the daughter of the said defendant, and ■ by threats of future and further prosecution for the same. The answer sets up a counterclaim for the debauchery of' said Mary
A counterclaim, under these clauses of the statute, must be something which resists or modifies the plaintiff’s claim. It is in the nature of a cross-bill in equity. It embraces both recoupment and set-off. To be available to a party, it must afford to him protection in some way against the plaintiff’s demand for judgment. 1 Wait’s Act. & Def., 531; Leavenworth v. Packer, 52 Barb., 132; Vassear v. Livingston, 13 N. Y., 248; Pattison v. Richards, 22 Barb., 143; Mattoon v. Baker, 24 How. Pr., 329; National F. Ins. Co. v. McKay, 21 N. Y., 191.
In Dietrich v. Koch, 35 Wis., 618, this court has adopted the above tests of a counterclaim, and the language of the opinion in Ins. Co. v. McKay, supra, is approvingly quoted in the opinion of Mr. Justice LyoN as follows: “I apprehend
By the Oowrt.— The order of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings according to law.