Opinion
April Term, 1793
To take the case out of the statute of limitations the acknowledgment must be of a liability for the debt, not merely that it has not been paid.
PLAINTIFF'S wife, while sole, lent to defendant specie certificates, to be returned in three weeks, or at any time when requested. Plaintiff did not bring suit until after the expiration of three years from the end of the three weeks; but plaintiffs proved Taylor had acknowledged receiving the certificates within three years before the action brought, and said he had not settled for them, but would pay them to the administrator of plaintiff's first husband, one Leonard.
Here is no acknowledgment of the debt, but only acknowledgment it was not paid. There must be an acknowledgment of the debt. The authorities cited, which are 2 Burr., 1097, and Doug., 652, went upon the acknowledgment of the debt, not of a fact which shows it to be unsatisfied; and the jury found accordingly.
See, also, Bank v. Sneed, 10 N.C. 500, in which counsel took an extended view of all the cases upon the subject, and the Court recognized the principle of those which require an acknowledgment of a present subsisting debt to take a case out of the statute.
Cited: Wells v. Hill, 118 N.C. 907.