78 P. 893 | Or. | 1904
delivered the opinion.
Two questions are presented for our consideration. The first relates to the action of the circuit court in sustaining the objection to a question put to the plaintiff while a witness in his own behalf, and the second to that of the court in directing a verdict for the defendant.
“Marengo, Ind., Nov. 29, ’96, rec’d on within note the sum of $40.”
“Marengo, Ind., Sept. 23rd, 1901, credited by corn,’ $2.”
The limitation of the action depends upon the authority that plaintiff had to make the latter indorsement. The witness having testified that there had been two payments made as indicated by these indorsements, and that the latter represented defendant’s interest in a corn crop raised on his grandfather’s estate, he was asked: “You simply wrote on the back of this note, ‘Paid on corn $2,’ did you ?” to which he answered: “He had an agent there, a brother, L. E. Sloan. There was no administrator ; the heirs were all of age, and this corn crop — ” But seemingly before he had completed his answer he was again asked: “Did L. E. Sloan, his agent, have authority and instruct you to credit this two dollars as a part payment on this note?” to
"Q. You have no letter, then, regarding the payment of the two dollars ?
A. No; I have not.
Q. Did you have a talk with defendant regarding that two dollars ?
A. No, sir. He was in Oregon, and I was in Indiana.
Q. At the time you gave credit on this note did you write any letter to the defendant telling him what you had done, and asking him if it was agreeable to him ?
A. Yes, sir; I did.
Q. When was this when you so addressed a letter to him?
A. About the 15th of October.
Q. What year?
A. 1901.
Q. Did you know what his post-office address was at the time you addressed the letter ?
A. I did.
Q. What was his post-office address ?
A. North Powder, Oregon.
Q. You may explain to the jury how you addressed the letter. In what way did you write, if you wrote to him — on a piece of paper inclosed in an envelope ?
A. I wrote him a business letter.
*39 Q. The letter that you say that you. wrote him about the 15th of October ? You may tell the jury in what way .you wrote him; that is, in what way you got the letter to him.
A. I wrote a letter, and placed it in an ordinary sized envelope, addressed it to B. D. Sloan, North Powder, Oregon, with my return on the upper left-hand corner, P. Y. Sloan, Marengo, Indiana, and placed a United States postage stamp in the upper right-hand comer, and placed it in the post-office at Marengo.
Q. Was that letter ever returned to you?
A. No, sir.”
An agent’s authority from a principal cannot be proven by his own statements that he is such agent, and, to let in proof of his acts or concessions'with a view to binding the principal, it is essential that the agency should be first shown: Connell v. McLaughlin, 28 Or. 230 (42 Pac. 218); Wright v. Evans, 53 Ala. 103; Scott v. Crane, 1 Conn. 255.
The judgment of the circuit court will therefore be reversed; and the cause remanded for such other proceedings as may seem proper. ■ Reversed.