''Gold v. Eddy'', 1 Mass. 1 (1804), was the first recorded case in the official

reports A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...

Ruling

According to the reporter's summation:

In an action by the endorser against the promisor of a
promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
negotiated subsequent to the day of payment, the defendant may go into such evidence as he would have been entitled to had the action been brought by the original promisee. The deposition of a person used in a former trial is competent
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...
in a review, though the deponent is a party to the suit, having become administrator of one of the original parties.''Gold v. Eddy'', 1 Mass. 1 (180

(accessed June 21, 2009)

References

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External links

Synopsis and Text of the decision
Massachusetts state case law Negotiable instrument law United States state evidence case law 1804 in United States case law 1804 in Massachusetts