17 Kan. 287 | Kan. | 1876
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On the 10th of September 1874, Williams sold forty-eight head of steers. He claims that he sold them to the firm of Sprague & Merritt. Merritt denies that there was such a firm, or that he was a partner of Sprague, and alleges that the sale was made to Sprague, who alone was responsible therefor. The question therefore in the case was, whether Merritt was a partner of Sprague’s, or had so acted as to justify Williams in holding him as a partner, or had joined with Sprague in making the purchase. No question is made in this .court upon the admission or rejection of testimony, but error is claimed on the instructions. We shall notice but a single matter, as in that we think there was error. Both Sprague and Merritt testified that no partnership existed at the time of the purchase; that while they had at one time been partners in the cattle business, such partnership had been dissolved some eighteen months or more prior thereto. Williams lived about thirty-five miles from Ióla, in or near which both Sprague and Merritt resided. Some two or two-and-a-half years prior to this sale, and while the firm of “Sprague & Merritt” existed, Williams sold them
We of course express no opinion as to whether the firm had in fact been dissolved, or whether Merritt actually joined in the purchase. We may also remark, that acts and conduct which induce a belief in the mind of a party dealing with certain persons of the existence of a partnership between them, must, to support a finding of a partnership, be such as would induce the belief in the minds of men of ordinary judgment and prudence.