6 How. Pr. 1 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1850
It is insisted, on the part of the plaintiff, that Hinde is personally liable on the draft, as it does not appear on the face of the draft that he signed it as agent of Beardsley. It is also insisted that parol evidence is inadmissible' to explain,
There are some cases of ambiguities, where the words are equivocal, but Avhich admit of precise and definite application by resorting to the circumstances under Avhich the instrument was made. In such cases parol evidence is admissible, of the circumstances attending the transaction. (2 Cow. & Hill’s Notes, 1358. Persil v. Dickson, 1 Mason’s Rep. 10 to 12.) In Stone v. Logan, (9 Mass. Rep. 55) being an action by the payee against the drawee of a bill of exchange, parol evidence Avas received of verbal conditions and restrictions, subject to Avhich an-absolute written engagement of the drawee to accept the bill was made, such verbal conditions and restrictions having been communicated to the payee by the drawer at the time the bill was drawn. So in case of a blank indorsement of a note or bill of exchange, contemporaneous parol stipulations showing that the indorsement was intended to be restrictive, is ^admissible in evidence, upon the principle that the -written engagement is left incomplete by the parties. (2 Cowen & Hill’s Notes, 1473. 11 Mass. Rep. 31.)
In Louisiana a person may draw as agent, upon his principal, for a debt not personal to himself, but due by the principal to the payee, without expressing the agency on the face of the bill. (Wolfe v. Jewett, 10 Curry, Louis. Rep. 383.) In the Meck. Bank of Alexandria v. The Bank of Columbia, (5 Wheat. 326,) where a check was drawn by a person who was the cashier of a bank, but Avithout affixing to his signature his title of cashier, parol evidence was received to show that he signed the check as cashier.
But I prefer to place the decision of this case upon the ground that the draAving of the draft by Hinde is restrictive; and that
Upon the whole I have come to the conclusion that the defendant Hinde is not personally liable on the draft in question. Judgment must therefore be entered in his favor.