Case Name: Richard Owings against Peter Wyant
Court: General Court of Maryland
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Decision Date: 1795-10
Citations: 3 Md. 393
Docket Number: 
Parties: Richard Owings against Peter Wyant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maryland reports, being a series of the most important law cases argued and determined in the Provincial Court and Court of Appeals of the then province of Maryland, from the year 1700 [i.e. 1658] down to the [end of 1799]
Volume: 3
Pages: 393–393

Head Matter:
GENERAL COURT,
OCTOBER TERM, 1795.
Richard Owings against Peter Wyant.
THIS was an action on the case against the defendant-being an innkeeper, for goods lost in his house belonging to the plaintiff, then his guest. (See the declaration in 1 Harris’s -Entries, 460.) The defendant pleaded the general issue. Verdict for the plaintiff.
At the trial of the cause, the plaintiff, to prove that the defendant was a common innkeeper, offered parol evidence. It was objected by the defendant that no evidence was admissible to prove that fact, but a copy of the record from Baltimore county court, showing that the defendant was licensed to keep tavern. s
Winchester, for the plaintiff.
Martin, (Attorney-General,) for the defendant»

Opinion:
The Court
(S. Chase, Ch. J. and J. T. Chase, J.)
overruled the objection, and determined that parol evidence might be given to prove that the defendant was an innkeeper.
The defendant excepted to this opinion, and appealed to the court of appeals, where the appeal was dismissed by the appellant's counsel. A writ of error was after-wards brought, and the judgment of the general court was affirmed at June term, 1797.