81 Ky. 321 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1883
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellee, George W. Hunt, on the ist of January in the year 1877, borrowed of his grandfather, Thomas Johnson, the sum of five thousand dollars, for which he executed his note, payable in three years, with eight per cent, interest from the time of its execution.
The grandfather died, and his personal representatives instituted an action at law upon the note, to which the appellee pleaded, in substance, that decedent being a widower, and desirous of again marrying, had offered a relative the sum of ten thousand dollars to aid him in procuring him
If the intestate agreed to accept the services of appellee in discharge of the note, and failed to comply with his agreement, if the contract is otherwise unobjectionable, the remedy is by an action for the breach of the contract. The most fatal objection to the defense is, that the contract, as alleged, is void, and the proof in no manner aids the pleading or verdict rendered. It is alleged that the grandfather was advanced in years, too feeble to ride, and unable to write, and that the appellee (his grandson) undertook to write his letters to the young lady and deliver them, and the young lady says those letters had reference to a matrimonial alliance with the old gentleman.
The principal witness for the appellee states that, in a conversation with the old man, the latter said he had agreed to give the grandson the note if he would assist him in marrying; that Hunt was to do his writing, &c., and was complying with his agreement. The same statement is made by other witnesses who speak of conversations with this old man, in which he spoke of his matrimonial prospects, and of the appellee as the instrument through which success was to be accomplished. He said to a lady witness that George was complying with his contract like a Turk. The defense made, as well as the testimony in support of it, shows clearly (if any contract was made) a marriage brokage agreement, the young man undertaking to bring about the marriage in consideration of the surrender of the note for five thousand dollars. The interference by one upon an agreement to receive a moneyed or valuable consideration to induce or bring about a marriage between others has always been held void.
We have seldom seen a more flimsy defense than has been made in this case. The declaration of an old, feeble, and •diseased man with reference to a contemplated marriage is made the sole foundation for defeating the recovery.
The appellee promised to pay the note time and again •after the death of his grandfather, and there can be no doubt, from the proof in the record, that the statements made by the intestate were mere expressions of an intention to give without any consideration.whatever. He died in possession •of the note, and it passed into the hands of the administrator. The court below should have sustained the demurrer to the answer, as amended, and failing to do that, should have instructed the juiy to find for the plaintiff (Smith on Contracts, page 221; Cole v. Gibson, 1 Vesey; Denny v. Hook, 1 Vernon; Fonblanque’s Equity, 212.)
The judgment below is reversed, and cause remanded, •with directions to award a new trial, and to sustain the •demurrer to the defense made, and for further proceedings •consistent with this opinion.