Jones v. Ricketts

Tuck, J., delivered the opinion of this court. As these cases were tried together in the court below on evidence applicable to both the judgments on which the writs of sci.fa. were issued, they will be disposed of in like manner here. Considering the small amounts involved, and the faet that they may be consumed by the expenses of the litigation, we were disposed, if we could, to have agreed with the ruling of the court below. But a careful consideration of (he record, in connection with the arguments of the counsel, has brought us to the conclusion, that the judgments cannot be affirmed without disregarding the express decisions of the Court of Appeals.

There is really no difference between (bis case and those of Geiser vs. Kershner, 4 G. & J., 305 , and Hardy vs. Coe, use of Brooke, 5 Gill, 189, where the rule is laid down as well settled, “that the payment of a less sum of money than the whole debt, without a release, is no satisfaction of the plaintiff’s claim;” a doctrine fully sustained by the decisions referred to in the first of these cases. It is supposed that the present may be distinguished from the case of Hardy vs. Coe, by the admission there, that the payment made was not the whole amount due on the judgment. The proof here is legally sufficient, as tending to show that the appellee never did pay more than the amount mentioned in the receipt, and that very question is left to the jury