Walsh v. Hunt

Citations

• 120 Cal. 46
• 52 P. 115
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 708

Syllabus

<p>Altebation of Note and Mobtgage—Fbaud of Agent of Mortgagee—Limitation of Authority—Ostensible Agency—Forgery not Included.— Authority conferred upon a real estate agent and notary public by a mortgagor to negotiate a loan for five hundred dollars, to pay off an existing mortgage of that amount, and to deliver another note and mortgage for the same amount to the person from whom the loan should be secured, does not confer actual or implied or ostensible authority upon such agent to commit the crime of forgery by fraudulently altering and increasing the amount of the principal and interest of the new note and mortgage, after their execution and prior to their delivery, for his own benefit, in order that he might fraudulently appropriate an excess of the principal sum obtained from the mortgagee.</p> <p>Id.—Effect of Alteration of Instrument—Bona Fide Holder not Protected.—Any unauthorized change in an instrument in a material respect destroys the integrity of the instrument as the contract which the maker has executed, and it ceases to be bis contract, and is avoided in the hands of an innocent holder for value; and this rule applies to commercial paper, as well as to deeds and other sealed instruments.</p> <p>Id.—Negligence—Execution of Note and Mortgage with Amount in Pencil—Occasion for Fraudulent Alteration—Estoppel.—The execution of the note and mortgage by the mortgagor, with the amount of principal and interest written therein by the agent in pencil, cannot be said to constitute negligence of itself; and, notwithstanding that fact may have afforded occasion for the criminal alteration of the note and mortgage by the agent, the mortgagor was not thereby estopped, nor bound to anticipate or . uis.'d against the commission of a crime by the agent.</p> <p>In.—Proximate Cause of Injury to Mortgagee—Maxim Inapplicable.—The proximate cause for the injury to the mortgagee as the result of the fraudulent alteration by the agent of the amount written by him in pencil