McGuire v. Bidwell

Citations

• 64 Tex. 43

Syllabus

<p>1. Payment — Negotiable note. — A negotiable promissory note given by a debtor does not amount to payment of the debt for which it is given unless the circumstances show that such was the intention of the parties. Hence, a note given by agreement between merchant and merchant, not in payment of a debt, but to evidence a credit in their dealings with each other and as a convenient basis of future credit, will not, when it constitutes an item in a mutual current account between the parties concerning the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, be barred by the lapse of four years from its maturity in a suit upon an account (containing that item), for the balance due on the account. The account would not be subject to the statutory bar of four years until that time had elapsed after the cessation of the dealings in which, the parties were interested together. In a suit upon the note alone the four years’ statute would apply from the date of its maturity.</p>