Case Name: Josiah Carver versus Henry Warren
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1809-10
Citations: 4 Tyng 545
Docket Number: 
Parties: Josiah Carver versus Henry Warren.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 5
Pages: 423–424

Head Matter:
Josiah Carver versus Henry Warren.
The plaintiff declared that A. B. gave his note to him for value received, and that ¿he defendant on the same day, by his writing on the back of that note, for value received, promised the plaintiff to pay him the contents of the same note according to the tenor thereof; on demurrer to this declaration, it was adjudged sufficient, and the plaintiff had judgment.
The declaration in this case states that one Job Cobb, at, &c., on, &c., by his promissory note in writing, for value received, promised the plaintiff to pay him, or order, * two hundred [ * 546 ] dollars in sixty days from the date with interest — and the defendant there afterwards, on the same day, by his writing, under his hand on the back of said note, for value received, promised the plaintiff to pay him the contents of said note agreeably to the tenor thereof.
The defendant demurred generally to the declaration, and the plaintiff joined in demurrer. This issue in law being joined at the sittings after the last term at Plymouth, where the action was pending, it was agreed that judgment should be rendered at this term, "and for that purpose the action was continued nisi.

Opinion:
Parsons, C. J.
The sufficiency or insufficiency of the declara tian, is the issue in law before us. It is contended for the defendant, that his promise is to pay, not his own debt, but the debt of another, and that there is no consideration to support this collateral promise.
It is true that a promise to pay the debt of another is void, unless made on a sufficient consideration. But this principle does not appear applicable to the case before us. As this case is presented by the pleadings, Cobb and the defendant each assumes, for value received, to pay to the plaintiff, the same sum; Cobb's promise being on one side of the paper, and the defendant's on the other; the defendant's promise not importing any guaranty or collateral stipulation. If, as has been suggested, the defendant endorsed his name as a guarantor, and the present endorsement was afterwards made without his consent, or any authority from him, he should not have demurred to the declaration, but should have pleaded the general issue, and on the trial he might have availed himself of this defence. As he has demurred to the declaration, he has confessed it, and as it appears to us to be substantially sufficient, the plaintiff must have judgment .
Vide Hunt vs. Adams, 7 Mass. 518. and 6 Mass. 519. Sed vide cases in the note to Hunt vs. Adams, ante, 358. — Blankenhagen vs. Blundell, 2 Barn. & Ald. 417. — Coolidge vs. Ruggles, 15 Mass. 387. — Tenny vs. Prince, 4 Pick. 385 S. C. — 7 Pick. 243 on another trial.