W. L. Wilkins & Co. v. Riley

Citations

• 47 Miss. 306

Syllabus

<p>1. Contracts — consideration—pleading.—A party will not bo heard, to assert, at law, the failure of an illegal consideration. lie can assert the Ci failure of only a valid consideration. The defense should have claimed a want of consideration, since, before a legal tribunal, an illegal consideration is, in effect, no consideration.</p> <p>2. Same. — Complaint of failure is equivalent to admission that, if the consideration had not failed, it would have been valid.</p> <p>3. Compounding petty misdemeanors, pending prosecutions for minor offenses, may, under the statute, be compromised, but only by the consent ,of the court, and on payment of costs. An agreement not to prosecute a proceeding, which has not yet commenced, is not within the statute.</p> <p>4. Same — promissory note. — An agreement not to prosecute for an assault and battery is illegal, and would not, as a consideration, support a promissory .note.</p>