83 Ga. 773 | Ga. | 1889
It seems from the record in this case that the plaintiff in error was employed as a clerk by the defendants in error. On November 15th, 1888, he
1. There was no error committed by the court in refusing to dismiss the appeal on the motion of the plaintiff in the court below. The sum sued for was fifty dollars, for wages as clerk from the 15th of November to the 15th of December, 1888. If the action was well-founded, the account bore interest from the time it was due up to the date of judgment. Code, §4157, declares that if the amount claimed in said suit is over fifty dollars, either party may, as a matter of right, enter an appeal from said judgment. The amount sued for in this case being fifty dollars, and it bearing interest from the time it was 'due, the amount of principal and interest claimed at the time of the judgment would therefore be more than fifty dollars, and according to the
2. We do not think that either the request to charge made by the plaintiff and refused by the court, or the request to charge made by the defendants and given by the court, was a correct exposition of the law upon this subject. The request of the plaintiff was, in substance, that when there was a hiring, and no particular length of time specified, the inflexible rule was that the hiring was for a year. The request of the defendants as given by the court was, that if the plaintiff was employed at so much per month, without any statement as to time, then this would be termed in law an indefinite hiring, and would not extend beyond a month. We think that the true rule is that lhid down by the Supreme Court of Kentucky in the case of Smith v. Theobald, 5 S. W. Rep. 394. That rule is as follows : “Where a person is hired to serve another without any agreement as to the duration of service, there is no inflexible rule of law as to the length of time the hiring is to continue. The question as to the length of time the hiring is to continue will be governed by the circumstances of each particular case. If one is hired to work in a crop being raised, the presumption is, in the absence of circumstances showing a contrary intention, that his term of service is to continue during the crop season. If one is hired to do general service on a farm, the presumption is, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, or circumstances showing a contrary intention, that the term of service is to continue for a