Case Name: Charles Pickslay, Respondent, v. Theodore B. Starr, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, General Term
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1894-02
Citations: 83 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 10
Docket Number: 
Parties: Charles Pickslay, Respondent, v. Theodore B. Starr, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Supreme Court Reports (Hun)
Volume: 83
Pages: 10–12

Head Matter:
Charles Pickslay, Respondent, v. Theodore B. Starr, Appellant.
Gift of a check — when it cannot he revoked.
Although it may he that no action can he maintained upon a check which is the subject of a gift, if the maker thereof stops payment thereon; yet, after the money is paid upon it, the gift is complete and the transaction cannot be revoked. (Dykman, J., dissenting on the ground that the check was delivered by mistake.)
Appeal by the defendant, Theodore B. Starr, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor of the plaintiff, entered in the office of tlie clerk of tlie county of Kings on the 17th day of July, 1893, upon the report of a referee.
Delos McCurdy, for the appellant.
WiTHcmn II. Ford, for the respondent.

Opinion:
Pratt, J.:
The important question is whether the $2,500 check received by plaintiff from defendant the day before Christmas, 1889, was a gift, or whether it was an advance on account of plaintiff's salary.
The referee has found it to be a gift, and we do not see how he could reasonably have decided otherwise. The referee's opinion discusses the matter so fully that there is no need to pursue the argument further.
The suggestion that a check cannot be a valid gift has no weight. It may well be that had the maker of the check stopped its payment an action against the maker could not have been maintained. But after the money was paid the transaction could not be revoked; the gift was complete. That is to say, that although the gift of the check might not be binding and irrevocable, the check was the means and instrument by which the gift of money was effected.
The judgment should be affirmed, with costs.