The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1892-07-02
LEGAL ANOMALIES.
ODD CASES THAT OFTEN ARISE az
ENGLISH COURTS OF LAW.

The Power Of "Consideration" in
Money Transaction - An Interesting
Point About Tradesmen's Bilis-"nIen
Of Straw" In Criminal Prosecution.
At q time when law reformers are
busy, It may be interesting to notice
some Of the many absurdities which
still exist in English law.
A person buys goods, pays for them
and gots % receipt. The tradesman sends
in his bill q second time. The purchaser
protests that he has paid, but cannot
fnd the receipt, Accordingly, the trades
man brings an action and wins. Soon
after this the missing receipt is found.
And yet the purchaser cannot by law
/ bring new action TO recover the amount
he has paid as the result Of the first nc
ton, unless he can prove actual fraud
/ ON the part Of the tradesman. And why
is this? Because, according TO the legal
maxim, ut is to the interest Of the state
that there should be some hnality to
litigation" It certainly is not, in this
instance, "to the interest" Of the pur-
chaser.
A owes b an undisputed debt of el00.
After much pressure he comes to b and,
dilating on his own misfortunes in par
ticular and the hard times in general.
offers him $50 in full satisfaction. b,
partly through sympathy and partly be-
cause having written off the amount as
a "bad debt" is only too glad to get any.
thing and accedes to those terms. Most
people would think that here was an
end to the matter. 1t all depends
strangely enough, ON the way in which
the money is paid.
If the amount is paid in gold or bank
notes there is no consideration" for 1
agreeing to accept less than the full
amount due, and therefore if he after
ward repents Of his bargain he can sue
A for the remaining goo in spite Of his
promise to be satisfied with ESQ. AnJ
yet if an old knife, rusty nail or som,
other thing, however trifling, is "throwl
in" then B is bound by his agreemen
to take the lesser sum in full discharge
for in this quibbling way the legal theory
of consideration" is duly satisfied.
Let us suppose that a Mr.. Smith hold
two houses under one lease from a Mr.
Brown, and assigns one of them to a Mr.
Robinson. If Mr.. Smith omits to pay
his rent, or breaks some other covenan
in the lease Mr.. Browu-the supenJ
landlord-can "distrainn not only o.
Mr.. Smiths house, but on poor Mr.. Rob
inson's as well, though he may be
model tenant.
A proposes to sell b piece of land
and at the same time gratituitousl.
promises to keep the offer open for
week. In spite of this A can revoke hi
offer the very next day if b has not al
; ready accepted it. Legality, again de
flying all ideas of morality, argues tina
there was no consideration for the de
lay agreed upon.
Very frequently busybody bringing
a criminal charge elects to be "boun,
over to prosecute at the assizes, evel
though the magistrate has expressly de
cided that no jury is likely to convict
Now this can be done con his own recog
nizances," without any substantial sure
ties. The result is that if, us is ofte
the case, the prosecutor is impecunious
the accused when acquitted, cannot
except in theory, make him pay his costs
nor does he feel inclined to bring a
action for malicious prosecution agains
one who, as the lawyers say, is "no
worth powder and shot In this wa
INSCRIPTIONS "men of straw have Of
: portunities which they not seldom util
ize--of putting people to terrible annoy
ance and great expense without incurrin
any practical risk themselves.
A lessee always remains liable ON tn
covenants until the expiration of tn
lease, even after he has assigned it wit
the approval and consent of the lessor,
Quite recently two Of the judges so
emnly declared from the bench that
: was humiliating to confess that by tn
laws of England, unlike those Of France
brokers and other agents could not /
convicted of embezzlement for misaI
propriating money intrusted with ther
for investment unless the direction t
invest was in writing One of them a
the same time tersely and truly summe
up the history and present stage of on
law when he called it ga thing of shred
and patches" This definition explain
the origin Of many absurdites and IL
congruities Still, it scarcely justife
their continued existence. London Til
Bits.