8 Barb. 205 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1850
It has long been established that a receipt is not conclusive upon the party who has signed it. It may be explained, varied, or contradicted by parol evidence. (1 Phil. Ev. 108. 1 Cowen & Hill’s Notes, 213, and the cases there cited.) And this extends to a receipt incorporated in another instrument; as where, in a deed, there is the usual clause acknowledging the receipt of the consideration money, evidence is admissible to contradict such clause, by showing that the money was not in fact paid. (1 Cowen & Hill’s Notes, 217, and cases there cited.) So a bill of goods, with a receipt in full at the bottom, may be met by showing that the note of a third person, instead of money, was received for the goods, under circumstances which did not operate as a payment; the note having proved unavailable. (Johnson v. Weed, 9 John. 310.)
A distinction is however taken between a mere receipt acknowledging money paid, and a receipt containing an agreement, condition, or stipulation between the parties. The latter
In Goodyear v. Ogden & Pearl, (4 Hill, 104,) the suit was. upon a receipt in the following form: “ Genoa, Sept. 22, 1841. Rec’d of Jonas Goodyear 40tW bushels of wheat, in store. D. Ogden & Co.” The court held the receipt was a contract, or in the nature of a contract, and therefore not open to contradiction under the rule applicable to receipts proper; and the defendants were not permitted to prove the language and conduct of the plaintiff, implying that a sale and not a bailment was intended.
I think the receipt in question in this cause is of the same character,.and subject to the same rules. It is the contract between the parties; and the general rule is therefore applicable, that parol evidence cannot be received to add to, or vary, its terms. (2 Cowen & Hill’s Notes, 1467, and cases there cited.) “ All oral negotiations or stipulations between the parties, which
In this case the receipt subscribed by the defendants was clearly the written contract between the parties. No fraud was alledged, and the parties were bound by the terms of the contract, and by the inferences and conclusions which the law, or the weH established customs of trade, might draw from it. All previous agreements and stipulations were merged in the contract.
There is another difficulty in the way of maintaining this suit. The instrument shows that the contract was made with Ira D. Richmond, and not with these plaintiffs. (1 Chit. PI. 8.) I think the judge decided correctly, at the circuit, and that a new trial should be denied.