37 S.C.L. 182 | S.C. Ct. App. | 1832
Lead Opinion
Curia, per
There is nothing in the conclusion which the jury have drawn from the facts, so much at war with probability and common sense, as to authorize the court to award a new trial on that ground. The question, whether, when a note is payable on demand, the statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the note, or from the time of the demand, is one of some importance, and not without its difficulty. The statute, P.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I differ from my brethren in relation to the time at which the statute of limitations begins to run against a note payable on demand. The statute provides that the action of assumpsit shall be brought “ within four years next after the cause of such action or suit, and not after.” P. L. 102. The inquiry, to ascertain when did the statute begin to run, is, when did the cause of action accrue? The answér of the last is the answer of the former. The cause of action, on a note payable on demand, accrues from a demand made in fact, or one constructively made in law; of the latter description is a demand made by the institution of a suit. Were it not that this has been over and over again ruled as settled law, I should be disposed to say that this was not such a demand as would sustain the action. For although it is certainly a demand of payment, yet it is a demand made after action brought, and ought not, in legal contemplation, to be evidence that the defendant had refused to perform his contract before action brought. But absurd as it appears to be, it is clear law, that the commencement of the suit is a legal demand of payment sufficient to maintain the suit, which is itself the demand. When did the cause of action accrue on a note payable on demand ^ where the only evidence of demand is the commencement of the action. I answer, from the entry of the writ in the sheriff’s office. I admit that in the case of Woodward vs. Drennan, referred to in the opinion of my brother Johnson, it was held