Case Name: Smith and others vs. Durkee
Court: New York Supreme Court of Judicature
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1840-01
Citations: 20 Wend. 684
Docket Number: 
Parties: Smith and others vs. Durkee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wendell's Reports
Volume: 20
Pages: 684–684

Head Matter:
Smith and others vs. Durkee.
Where an attorney has not an agent at the places required by the rules for the receipt of papers, and a paper is put into the post-office directed to him, the day the paper is mailed, and not when it is received, is the day of service.

Opinion:
On a motion to set aside a default for not pleading, as irregularly entered, it was held, that putting a plea into the post-office, directed to the plaintiff's attorney at his place of residence, when the attorney has not an agent at either of the places required by the rules of the court, was equivalent to the service of a paper upon an agent; and the service was deemed to have been made on the day the plea was mailed, and not when, according to the course of the mail, the plea was received by the plaintiff's attorney.