Case Name: Crookshank against Burrell
Court: New York Supreme Court of Judicature
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1820-05
Citations: 18 Johns. 58
Docket Number: 
Parties: Crookshank against Burrell.
Judges: 
Reporter: Johnson's Reports
Volume: 18
Pages: 58–59

Head Matter:
Crookshank against Burrell.
The statute sLfraeh! 44! tóexeluüryZ contracts^but tiucTiyappeJr that the vaiu¿ of the goods sold was above 25 dol-tars. to dehver,raat a fthingr dnot md“yeet"to“W¿ whhm is the is^a^contract for work and labour only, not for the sale and pur-
contralteTlo malte a wag-gon for the defendant by a certain day, and that he should come and pay for' it, in lambs, at a certain price per head ; this was held to be a contract for utork and labour, and so not within thft Statute.
IN ERROR, on certiorari to a Justice’s Court. B. de» dared against C. before the justice, on a contract between h‘m atld the defendant, whereby it was agreed that B. shodd make the wood work of a waggon, which the de-fendant was to pay for in lambs, at one dollar a head, The plaintiff claimed 25, dollars. The agreement was * 0 proved: and that the plaintiff had made ■ the waggon r . , . . ,. , T, , , , within the period limited. It was also proved, that the defendant was to come for the waggon, and pay for it in lambs at one dollar a piece. The judgment was for 24 dollars and 94 cents, the plaintiff having remitted six cents ? and? ^ objections were, 1st. that the contract was w*[hin the statute of frauds ; 2nd. that the plaintiff ought to have tendered the waggon. 00

Opinion:
Spencer, Ch. J.
. . - delivered the opinion of the Court. It no where appears that the value of the waggon or the price of it, was ten pounds or upwards. The claimed to recover 25 dollars; but this does not denote the price of the waggon, and it is mere matter of form. But, admitting that the price agreed on was 25 dollars, still it would not be a case within the statute. In Bennet v. Hull, (10 Johns. Rep. 364.) we decided, that the statute applied to executory, as well as other contracts, and we recognised the cases of Rondeau v. Wyatt, (2 H. Bl. 63.) and Cooper v. Elston, (7 Term Rep. 14.) as containing a just and sound construction of the statute. In giving the opinions in those cases, the judges referred to the case of Towers v. Osborn, (Str. 506.) with approbation. In that .case, the defendant bespoke a chariot, and after it was made for him, refused to take it; and Pratt, Ch. J. ruled, that it was not a case within the statute. In Clayton v. Andrews, (4 Burr. 2101.) it was decided, that an agreement to deliver wheat, understood to be unthreshed, was not within the statute. The distinction taken by Lord Loughborough in Rondeau v. Wyatt, and by the judges, who gave opinions seriatim, in Cooper v. Elston, was between a contract for a thing existing in solido, and an agreement for a thing not yet made, to be delivered at a future day. The contract in the latter case, they considered not to be a contract for the sale and purchase of goods; but, a contract for work and labour merely. However refined this distinction may be, it is well settled, and it is now too late to question it.
It appears that the defendant was to come after the waggon, and that it was completed at the time agreed upon. It is necessarily to be inferred, that when he came for the waggon, he was to pay for it, in the mode agreed upon, and, of course, he was to drive his lambs to the plaintiff. We are of opinion that the judgment must be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed»