5 Conn. 76 | Conn. | 1823
The only question before the court, relates to the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s demand. The cases which determine the place of delivery, have no relevancy to the place of demand; for the demand need not, of necessity, be made at the place, where the goods and chattels must be received. If the defendants had declared, that the articles were destroyed, or if they had refused to deliver them, no one would doubt that the demand was sufficient.
The defendants having engaged to deliver the property in question on demand, it is the legal construction of the contract, that a reasonable demand must be made; and any facts, which show the demand to have been reasonable, must prove, necessarily, that it was made at the proper place. The only difficulty in the case has arisen, from confounding the place of delivery, with that of demand; but these are not, of course, coincident. Had the defendants said, “we will not deliver the
The case of Mason v. Briggs, 16 Mass. Rep. 453. did not determine, that a demand made at a place, at some distance from the property to be delivered, was invalid; but it affirmatively decided, that a demand at the party’s dwelling-house, in his absence, was sufficient. This principle has no relevancy to the case before the court.
The determination of the court in Scott v. Crane, 1 Conn. Rep. 255. is very apposite to the case under discussion. A demand was made at New-Haven, of goods, which had been attached at Oxford, and which probably were believed to be at the latter place. At the time of the demand, the defendant declared, that he had given up the goods in question, to Zerah Hawley and Lewis Hotchkiss, and taken their receipt for them. The court was of opinion, that a legal demand had been made, and that a refusal to deliver the articles demanded, inferred from the preceding facts, rendered it unnecessary to repair to the place of the defendant’s abode. “ Whenever an officer has attached estate, (said Swift, J.) and holds it to respond the judgment, it is necessary that a demand should be made of him on the execution. No place is prescribed by law, at which such demand must be made. It may be at the place of his abode, of wherever he may be. If a demand should be made of him, at a
New trial to be granted