Case Name: Kendall v. Flanders
Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New Hampshire
Decision Date: 1903-01-07
Citations: 72 N.H. 11
Docket Number: 
Parties: Kendall v. Flanders.
Judges: All concurred.
Reporter: New Hampshire Reports
Volume: 72
Pages: 11–12

Head Matter:
Hillsborough,
Jan. 7, 1903.
Kendall v. Flanders.
Whether evidence should be excluded on the ground of remoteness, is a question to be determined by the trial court.
An exception to the exclusion of evidence is unavailing when neither the purpose for which the evidence was offered nor the ground of objection to the ruling is shown by the record.
Assumpsit, upon a promissory note. Writ dated September 16, 1899. Trial by jury. Tlie note was secured by mortgage; and tbe question submitted to tbe jury was tbe value of tbe real estate acquired by tlie plaintff by foreclosure in July, 1901, as bearing upon tlie question of the amount due upon the note. Transferred from the May term, 1902, of the superior court by Youny, J.
The defendant offered to show by one Kiel the price paid at an auction sale in 1896 or 1897 for an adjoining tract of ten acres, and that tlie land so purchased was not very different from a part of the mortgaged premises; and by one Dane, the price at which various tracts situated within a mile or two of the mortgaged premises had been sold within a few years. He also offered to show that subsequent to the date of the note he made an agreement with the plaintiff, whereby the mortgaged premises were to be sold and the plaintiff was to receive one half of the proceeds of sale in excess of $4,000, in lieu of interest. All this evidence was excluded, and the defendant excepted.
Henry A. Gutter, for the plaintiff.
Wason if Moran, for the defendant.

Opinion:
Remick, J.
The exclusion of the evidence of Kiel and Dane presents nothing but a question of remoteness. That the question of remoteness is left to the discretion of the judge who tries the case, is too well settled in this state to need the citation of authority.
It does not appear for what purpose tlie subsequent agreement was offered, nor upon what ground its exclusion was objected to. If offered for the purpose of modifying the contract evidenced by tlie note in suit, to have been admissible it must have been supported by a consideration. The plaintiff asserts that it was wholly without consideration. This is not denied by the defendant. Tlie fact does not appear either way in the record. If the agreement was offered to show an admission by the plaintiff as to the value of .the premises, — that he believed they would sell for so much more than #4,000 that he was willing to obligate himself to accept one half of what they would sell for- in excess of that sum, in lieu of the interest to which he was entitled upon the note in suit, — then it was competent and admissible, unless in the judgment of the superior court it was too remote, which may have been the case. There is nothing in the record to show the contrary. The purpose for which the agreement was offered and the ground of the defendant's objection to its exclusion not appearing, the exception must be overruled. The party excepting " must show clearly and affirmatively from the record itself facts constituting error in the proceeding below." 2 Enc. PI. & Pr. 424, 425.
Exceptions overruled.
All concurred.