18 Vt. 98 | Vt. | 1846
The opinion of the court was delivered by
1. In regard to the right of the plaintiff to recover in this action upon the general counts and the necessity of a demand nothing more need be said, than was said in this case, as reported in 16 Vt. Reports 113.
2. We do not perceive that any improper use was made of the defendants’ books in the course of the trial. They could not be received as evidence in regard to the plaintiff’s claim, if they contained nothing concerning any such account. A party’s books are never evidence of a negative character, to rebut a presumption, — or certainly not ordinarily, — but only in regard to matters which. d!o> positively appear upon them, either of debt, or credit. And certainly, if the books were admitted in support of the defendant’s-counter claim, it was competent for the plaintiff to show, by the-same books, the payment, or settlement, of that claim.
3. In regard to the admissions of the defendants, the judge, wha tried the case, certainly put the matter upon the same ground, on which such admissions have always been received, since I have known any thing of the course of jury trials in this State, and upon
Judgment affirmed.