MacDonald v. Gessler

Citations

• 208 Pa. 177
• 57 A. 361
• 1904 Pa. LEXIS 723

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Gambling contract — Purchase of stock.</p> <p>A transaction between a stockbroker and his Customer cannot be stamped as a gambling transaction, unless it appears that it was the intention of both parties that the stock was not to be purchased outright, and that there was to be a mere settlement of differences. If the broker shows that it was the intent to purchase the stock and that he was always ready to deliver it when called upon to do so, the mere intention of the purchaser not to pay outright for the stock cannot give the transaction a gambling character.</p> <p>Contract — Gambling contract — Purchase of stock — Bucket shop — Evidence.</p> <p>In an action on a duebill where the defendant alleges that the duebill was given as the result of a gambling, transaction in stocks, an offer is properly excluded to the effect that plaintiff ran what is commonly known as a “ bucket shop,” and that his customers simply gambled upon stocks, and never had any intention of purchasing outright. In such a case it is also proper to exclude an offer to show that the plaintiff had paid a tax to the United States government on a bucket shop.</p>