To maintain this action against James W. Horton, by whom alone it is defended, it was necessary that the plaintiffs should show, that either at the time when the contract for the steam-engine was made, or when it was finished and set up in the mill, he was a copartner of the other defendants. Upon this question they failed to produce sufficient evidence to establish the fact which it was incumbent on them to prove. James W. Horton was an owner as tenant in common with the other defendants of the mill in which the steam-engine was placed; but that did not constitute him a partner with them, either in the ownership of the machine, or in the transaction of the business in connection with which it was to be used. Beyond the mere fact of his interest in the real estate, the only additional evidence offered to prove that he was a member of the partnership was derived from what he
