Case Name: Elisha Ruckman, plaintiff in error, vs. Stacey Pitcher, defendant in error
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1848-06
Citations: 4 How. Pr. 443
Docket Number: 
Parties: Elisha Ruckman, plaintiff in error, vs. Stacey Pitcher, defendant in error.
Judges: 
Reporter: Howard's Practice Reports
Volume: 4
Pages: 443–443

Head Matter:
Elisha Ruckman, plaintiff in error, vs. Stacey Pitcher, defendant in error.
—Judgment reversed, and venire de novo by the Supreme Court; costs to abide the event.
James T. Brady, for plaintiff in error;
H. B. Blunt, for defendant in error.

Opinion:
This case decided, 1st, that the losing party in an illegal bet or wager may recover back from the stakeholder the sum deposited, after paid over to the winner, by direction of the loser. 2d. Such an action may be maintained, without demand. 3d. A wager upon the result of a horse-race in Queens county (Long Island course,) is unlawful, notwithstanding the statute allowing races there; and, 4th. That the party who stakes a sum of money with others, on an illegal wager, may recover his amount of the fund, without joining the others in the action. (Reported, 1 Comstock, 392.)