Farmers & Merchants Bank v. Donnelly

Citations

• 247 Pa. 518
• 93 A. 761
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 878

Syllabus

<p>Promissory notes — Husband and wife — Wife as surety — Accommodation maker — Death of husband — Evidence—Competency of witnesses — Surviving party to contract — Declarations by husband— Act of June 8, 1898, P. L. Skk, Sec. £ — Act of May £8, 1887, P. L. 158, Sec. 5,</p> <p>1. Where a married woman is the maker of a promissory note but claims to be an accommodation maker for her husband and therefore protected under the provisions of the Act of June 8, 1893, P. L. 344, Sec. 2, providing that a married woman “may not become endorser, maker, guarantor, or surety for another,” the burden of proof is upon' her to establish the defense.</p> <p>2. In an action against a married woman after the death of her husband to recover the amount due on promissory notes signed by her as maker, where the defense is that she had signed the notes merely as an accommodation for her husband and had received no consideration for them, the court did not err in excluding offers of proof of her defense (1) by her own testimony; (2) by the testimony of employees of her husband that to the best of their knowledge she received no consideration for the notes, where it appeared that such employees did not have any knowledge of the subject except their general acquaintance with the business of the husband and wife; (3) by the books of her husband, showing that the proceeds of the notes were carried to his account and that the notes in suit were carried by him as “bills payable” and not “bills receivable,” where entries of the same kind would have been made if the notes were discounted for him, whether they were given for a consideration or for accommodation; (4) by declarations of her husband made after he had parted with the notes and transferred them to the bank.</p>