113 Pa. 1 | Pa. | 1886
delivered the opinion of the court
In order to understand this deposition, it must be borne in mind that, by an exceedingly awkward arrangement, the witness is made to speak in the third person. The language is not literally that of the witness, but of the justice of the peace who took it down, and he has accompanied it with explanations of what he supposes the witness to mean. But taking the deposition for all it is worth, it does not make out the plaintiff’s case. It is not such an acknowledgment of the debt from which an unequivocal promise to pay can be inferred. It does not prove an express promise to pay, nor an implied one. The acknowledgment of his signature to the note would not of itself be an acknowledgment of the debt. The latter might have been paid or there might be a valid defence to it. The expressions that it must be “fixed,” and that “he and William would have to pay it,” are equivocal. In the one instance it is not the equivalent of “ pay ”; in the other it involves another person, and may refer to a supposed liability rather than a present intention to pay. Such expressions as these were held insufficient to toll the statute in Emerson v. Miller, 27 Pa. St., 278. “The decisions of this court apply very strict rules to acknowledgments to take a case out of the Statute of Limitations, and very rightly so. We mean to adhere to them in letter and spirit” : Johns v. Lantz, 63 Id., 324. It is not essentially necessary that the promise be actual or express, provided that the other necessary facts are shown. A clear, distinct and unequivocal acknowledgment of the debt is suffi
Nor do we think the testimony of the witness, James Stroecker, is any stronger. Without quoting it at length, it is sufficient to say that the defendant acknowledged that he signed the note as bail, and that he and William Hoffman “ would have to pay it,” or that “ they would have to pay it.” The witness puts, both expressions in the mouth of the defendant. Neither is sufficient. A statement by the defendant that he and some one else would have to fix a note, or would have to pay it, contains nothing from which an implied promise that the defendant alone would pay. And it has been already seen that the acknowledgment must be consistent with a promise to pay.
As there was nothing in this case to toil the statute, the court below did not err in directing a verdict for the defendant. This renders a discussion of the remaining assignments unnecessary.
Judgment affirmed.