Case Name: Tunno and Cox ads. John Sukeley
Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1803
Citations: 2 Bay 505
Docket Number: 
Parties: Tunno and Cox ads. John Sukeley.
Judges: All the judges present.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 2
Pages: 505–506

Head Matter:
Tunno and Cox ads. John Sukeley.
Charleston,
1803.
Where a mer* chantappointS an agent fop a special purpose, as purchasing a cargo, and au-r thorises him to draw bills for the a=* mount, and the agent takes upon him to draw bills for ano* ther purpose» on his own account,heis not, bound to ao« cept or pay such ‘
SPECIAL action on the case for not accepting and paying a bill of exchange drawn on defendants by captain Doane, at Si. Domingo. Verdict for plaintiff. Motion for new trial.
Captain Doane commanded a vessel belonging to the house of the defendants in Charleston, and was specially employed by them to proceed to St. Domingo, and there to purchase sugar, cotton, coffee, and other West-India produce, and to draw bills on them for the amount.
While at the Cape, transacting this business, Doane got Into a law-suit about a negro he had sold, and was put into prison; and in order to extricate himself from gaol, he drew the bill in question on the defendants, in favour of the plaintiff, who knew captain Doane had a credit from the house in Charleston.
The defendants, however, discovering that this bill was drawn for a different purpose than that of purchasing West-India produce for their account, agreeably to their instructions, refused to accept or pay it. Whereupon plaintiff brought his action, and recovered a verdict in his favour, upon the general law of merchants, that principals were bound by the acts of their agents or factors, &c.
This was, therefore, a motion for a new trial, on the ground, that the letter of instructions given by defendants, was for a special purpose, to wit, that of purchasing West-India produce, and no other ; and that as Doane had taken upon him to draw on them for a very different one, on his own account, and not on theirs, they were not bound to pay it.

Opinion:
The Judges,
after considering this case, were of opinion, unanimously, that the Jury had found a verdict against the law of merchants, and the tenor of the instructions given by the defendants to their agent, captain Doane.
Rule for new trial made absolute.
All the judges present.