WESSON vs. CARROLL

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Reports of Cases Determined in the

Supreme Court of Alabama, 1820-1826

WESSON vs. CARROLL December, 1824 By the bill of exceptions it appears that, at the request of Carroll, a Mr. Urquhart took the agreement to Wesson to obtain his signature, and that he accordingly signed it. On the trial Urquhart was called as a witness, and asked whether Wesson, at the time of signing and delivering the agreement, did not tell him that if on or before the first of September, 1819, (which was before the time of payment of the money mentioned in the agreement,) he elected to pay a certain quantity of cotton instead of money, he had the right to do so, and the agreement was to be delivered up to be cancelled. On objection made, the court directed the witness not to answer this question; and this is the matter now relied on as error.

In general the declarations of one party made in the absence of the other cannot be given in evidence in his own favor, though they may be against him; nor can verbal evidence be received to alter or contradict the nature or terms of a written agreement. It does not materially vary the cause to consider Urquhart the agent of Carroll. If the declarations had been made to Carroll himself at the time of signing the agreement, they could not be received as evidence for Wesson. They would go to prove other terms or conditions than those expressed in the written agreement.

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Genealogical Gleanings From

Reports of Cases Determined in the

Supreme Court of Alabama, 1820-1826

Source: Henry Minor, Reporter, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama From May, 1820, to July, 1826 (Atlanta: 1891), pp. 251-252.