| Wis. | Nov 2, 1861
By the Court,
This action was brought to recover upon a note. The only question as to the right of recovery grows out of the facts found by the judge, that the note was given in settlement for a bill of goods sold by the plaintiffs to the defendant, and that an action had already been brought for the goods sold, upon the trial of which the plaintiffs’ attorney, after admitting that this note had been received in full payment for the goods — which defeated that
There are eases where parties having substituted new agreements or securities for old, and the new ones turning-out void for usury, it was held that they might still recover on the old. Eastman vs. Porter, ante, p. 39; Johnson vs. Johnson, 11 Mass., 362. Had this note been cancelled upon the execution of a new one void for usury, the party might still have recovered upon this, within the principle of those cases. Its cancellation under the circumstances in which it was done here, does not furnish so good a reason for precluding a recovery.
In saying that this note was taken in “ full payment” for the goods, we rely upon the finding of the court below to that effect, which we construe to mean absolute payment so as to extinguish the original indebtedness. We have no doubt that where the parties so agree, the taking of a note may have that effect. And though their language is sometimes construed very liberally to prevent it, as in some of the cases mentioned in Eastman vs. Porter, yet where it is admitted by an attorney on the trial of a case, that a note
We think the judge erred in holding that the facts found by him prevented a recovery; and the judgment is reversed, with costs, and the cause remanded for a new trial.