Howes v. Scott

Citations

• 224 Pa. 7
• 73 A. 186
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 717

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Action—Parties—Legal plaintiff — Use plaintiff.</p> <p>1. At common law no one could maintain an action upon a contract to which he was not a party; but an exception to this rule is where one receives money or property on the promise made by him to pay or deliver the money or property to a third person. In such a case the third person has a direct right of action against the promisor.</p> <p>2. Where a purchaser of land under articles pays the hand money on account, and subsequently assigns his equitable title to another, who assumes in writing the payment of the money paid on account, and it appears that this money is really due to a third person from whom the purchaser had borrowed it, and subsequently the assignee, with full knowledge of all the circumstances delivers a copy of his agreement to the purchaser, who in turn delivers it to the lender of the hand money, the latter has a direct right of action against the assignee.</p> <p>3. The right to maintain an action in the name of a legal plaintiff does not depend upon the interest which the use plaintiff may have in the result. It depends solely upon whether the legal plaintiff has a cause of action against the defendant. If he cannot maintain the action, the use plaintiff cannot do so. If the legal plaintiff has a good cause of action, it is immaterial, so far as the defendant is concerned, whether the use plaintiff has any interest or not. That is a matter which concerns the legal and the use plaintiffs and not the defendant.</p>