Illinois Central Railroad v. Leidig

Citations

• 64 Ill. 151

Syllabus

<p>1. Pleading—recoupment—sale of personal prope/rty. In an action against a railroad company to recover the price of a quantity of ties sold and delivered by the plaintiff to the defendant, it was pleaded that a certain portion of the ties were, by some person to the defendant unknown, cut and removed from land granted to the defendant by its charter and remaining unsold, and after receiving the same became, for the first time, apprised of the fact that the ties were taken from its own land. It was held, the plea contained no matter of recoupment, as it did not aver possession of the ties in the vendor at the time of the sale, so that a warranty of title could be implied therefrom, nor did it aver any affirmation of title. In the absence of both these elements, the purchaser buys at his own peril.</p> <p>2. Plea must answer so much of the declm’ation as it purports to answer. A plea assuming in the introductory part to answer three hundred dollars of the plaintiff’s demand, being a part of the amount sued for, averred that five hundred of the railroad ties alleged in the declaration to have been sold by the plaintiff' to the defendant, and to recover for which the suit was brought, were, by some person to the defendant unknown, cut and removed from the defendant’s own land, but the plea did not aver that such ties were of the value of §300, and therefore failed to answer what it assumed to answer and was bad on demurrer.</p>