Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana Volume 41

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ...they arrived at the cattle yards of the appellee, who, after the cattle had been so delivered, paid the bills for freight, as made out and presented by such agent. ', The question presented for our decision is, whether money paid, under the above state of facts, in excess of the proper and legal freight, can be recovered back. I In our judgment, the money so paid can be recovered back upon two grounds. In the first place, it was agreed and understood between the parties that the payment should not be regarded as a voluntary payment, and that the appellee should have the right to sue for and recover any money in excess of the just and legal freight; and the appellee having been thus induced to pay an unjust and illegal demand, the appellants ought to be and are estopped from alleging that the money was voluntarily paid. In the second place, we are of opinion that-the money so paid could be recovered back if there had been no valid agreement that it might be. While the appellants were not in the actual possession of the cattle of the appellee, they possessed such power and control over the shipment and delivery thereof as gave them an undue advantage over the appellee, and the necessity of the appellee was so great and pressing as to deprive him of the freedom of his will. The unjust and wrongful demand of the appellants, and the necessities of the appellee, coerced him to make the payments, but he made them under protest, and accompanied them with remonstrances against the injustice of the demand made upon him. In the case of Maxwell v. Griswold, supra, the importer submitted to the unjust and illegal demand made upon him by the collector, to avoid a greater evil, and the court held that he acted under moral duress, and that he could...