Central Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Co. v. White

Citations

• 206 Pa. 611
• 56 A. 76
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 771

Syllabus

<p>Practice, O. P. — Trial—Instructions—Points.</p> <p>Where a trial judge has given a binding direction as to the verdict, what he says to the jury in explanation or comment on the case, and his refusal to answer points, become entirely immaterial.</p> <p>Points are statements of the rules or principles of law, specially applicable to the case, and therefore given to the jury as guides in applying the law to the facts. But where the jury has no such duty and the judge himself determines the combined result of the law and the facts as presented, points become immaterial.</p> <p>Banks and banking — Checks—Certified checks.</p> <p>A check by a depositor on his account certified by the bank becomes an obligation of the bank to the payee or holder, and in the absence of fraud or similar exceptional circumstances the amount is as much withdrawn from the depositor’s account as if the money had been paid over 'the counter.</p> <p>Lunacy — Signing of check — Evidence—Province of court and jury.</p> <p>On an issue to determine whether a person who signed a check had sufficient mental capacity at the time of the signature, three physicians testified'that he had been suffering a mental and physical decline for several years from senile paresis, and in their opinion was not competent to transact business at the time he drew the check. They all, however, admitted that the alleged incompetent took care of himself, and went about town attending to all his ordinary business. None of the physicians testified to a single unbusinesslike act on the part of the maker of the check. The testimony as to the mental capacity of the maker was clear and positive. Held, that the court below committed no error in not submitting to the jury the evidence of the maker’s mental incapacity.</p>