5 N.H. 259 | Superior Court of New Hampshire | 1830
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff brings this action against the defendant, upon a special contract of the latter to labor for the former, a year, at a stipulated price,
The question, then, which is now to be decided is, whether it is a good bar to this action that the material allegations on which it is founded have been negatived by a jury in another suit between the same parties ?
It is a well settled principle of law, that the judgment of a court of concurrent jurisdiction, or a judgment of the same court, directly upon the point, is as a plea, a bar, or as evidence, conclusive between the same parties upon the same matter directly in question in another cause.
Thus, where an action has been brought and has been determined upon the merits, the judgment in such action is conclusive in another action, brought for the same cause between the same parties.
So a judgment in ejectment in favor of the plaintiff, is conclusive against the defendant, as to the right of possession at the time of the demise laid in the declaration,
A judgment in favor of one town against another town for the support of a pauper, is conclusive as to tifie settlement of the pauper at the time when the supplies were furnished. 4 Mass. Rep. 275 ; Phillip’s Ev. 224.
The same principle is applied and illustrated in a great many case's to be found in the books. 2 Mass. Rep. 338, Kent v. Kent; 2 N. H. Rep. 126, The Bank v. Robinson; 7 Johns. 20, Rice v. King ; 3 Wilson, 304, Kitchen v. Campbell ; 17 Mass. Rep. 365, Adams v. Barnes; 1 N. H. Rep. 33, Tilton v. Gordon; Peake’s N. P. C. 219, Rex v. Pancras; 5 Esp. N. P. C. 56, Strut v. Bovingdon; 2 Strange, 961, Da Costa v. Villa Real; 11 Mass. Rep. 445, Smith v. Whiting; 4 Cowen, 559, Burt v. Sternburgh.
In all these cases, the point upon which the judgment was held to be conclusive, was directly in issue on the face of the record, and was the foundation of the judgment. The judgment, to be conclusive, must be upon the precise point. 2 Starkie’s Ev. 198—201; Buller’s N. P. 244.
It is also a settled principle of law, that when a fact, directly in issue on the face of the pleadings, is determined by a jury in one case, the verdict may operate as an estoppel, if properly pleaded, in another suit brought diverso intuitu, between the same parties. But to constitute a legal estoppel, in such a case, the fact must have been in issue on the face of the/pleadings in the first case, and the verdict must be pleaded as an estoppel. 3 Starkie’s Ev. 1280, note, y ; Evelyn v. Haynes cited 3 East, 365; 3 East, 346, Outram v. Merriwood; 2 B. & A. 662, Vooght v. Winch; 2 Johns. 24, Manny v. Harris; Esp. N. P. C. 43, Sintrenick v. Lucas; 1 Salk. 230, Blackham's Case.
It is also settled, that a verdict may he given in evidence in many cases, where it is not conclusive. 3 Star-kie’s Ev. 1278 ; Gilbert’s Ev. 23.
We wiil now apply these principles to the case before
The question in the action, which Nims brought' against Towns, was, whether there was an implied contract to pay for a month’s labor. Towns attempted to prove that the month’s labor had been done under a subsisting contract to labor for a year, which contract had never been performed by Nims. This, if proved, was a decisive answer to the action, because if the labor had been clone under a subsisting special contract to labor for a year, there could be no implied contract Yet, still, the question in issue was, whether there was an implied contract, and although it must now be concluded, that the jury found that there was no special contract, this conclusion is a mere inference from what they did find. They found there was an implied contract, and we infer from this finding, that they could not have been satisfied of the existence of a special contract. It is, therefore, clear, that the existence of the special contract was not directly tried in the first suit, and whatever may have been the finding of the jury in that case, in relation to the special contract, it can conclude nothing in this case,
Judgment Jor the plaintiff.