45 Pa. 193 | Pa. | 1863
The opinion of the court was delivered,
by
The acceptance of McOhesney & Co. was directed by them to the plaintiffs, and there it remained unpaid; and it was claimed by the defendant below, that because the plaintiffs did not notify them of its protest for non-payment, they are discharged from liability on the note on which suit was brought. The learned judge dissented from this view, inasmuch as there was no evidence whatever to show that it had been taken, either in payment of the note in suit or as collateral to it. We fully concur in this view of the case. It was therefore neither a set-off nor satisfaction in the ease trying. If damage has been sustained by Starr & Payne, on account of the paper, they must seek redress, if any there be, in some other form; it cannot be had under the evidence, in the mode attempted here. This is a sufficient answer to the second and third bills of exception.
Was the certificate of notice of non-payment by the notary of the state of New York, evidence of the fact in this state? Before the passage of the Act of 14th December 1854, it certainly would not have been, but we think that statute was intended to change the law. It provides that “ The official acts, protests, and attestations of all notaries public, certified according to law, under their respective hands and seals, in respect to the dishonor of all bills and promissory notes, and of notice to the drawers, acceptors, or endorsers thereof, may be received and read in evidence as proof of the facts therein stated, in all suits now pending or hereafter to be brought: provided that any party may be permitted to contradict, by other evidence, any such certificate.”
It cannot be supposed that this act applies only within this state. Its terms are general, and extend to the official acts of all notaries. Besides, it was not necessary, as applicable to this state, for that was the law at the time of the passage of the act, and long before. We think it applies to the acts of notaries in other states as well as this.
Judgment is affirmed.