Opinion
June Term, 1820.
1. Acceptance and payment of a check is prima facie evidence that the acceptor had the necessary funds of the drawer, and it is incumbent on the former to show that he had not.
2. The State Bank of North Carolina is a mere private corporation; hence, the books of accounts kept by the bank of the dealings between it and a customer are not evidence for the bank in a suit between it and the customer.
THIS was an action of assumpsit, from CUMBERLAND, for money had and received and money laid out and expended to the use of the defendants. Upon the trial the facts were that the defendants, being merchants at Fayetteville, were customers of the branch bank at that place, and kept large deposits for which they had drawn checks from time to time, that had been honored and paid. The checks were produced in court by the plaintiffs and admitted by the defendants. The plaintiffs further alleged that those checks were for larger sums than had been deposited, and that defendants had overdrawn. To prove that fact they offered to give in evidence the books of accounts kept at the bank with the defendants, whereby it would appear that their deposits did not equal the amount of the checks by the sum of three thousand dollars and upwards. The court rejected the evidence and the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. The plaintiffs moved for a rule for a new trial, which was refused by the court, and an appeal taken to this Court.
Ruffin for the defendants.
The acceptance and payment of a check is prima facie evidence that the plaintiffs had in deposit money of the defendants wherewith to pay it; and if the fact were not so it is incumbent upon the plaintiffs to prove by the (37) state of the accounts that the defendants have overdrawn. But that cannot be shown by the books of the bank, which is only a private corporation, and they are inadmissible in favor of the plaintiffs. The judgment below is
Affirmed.
Cited: Fox v. Horah, 36 N.C. 360; Bland v. Warren, 65 N.C. 374; Durham v. R. R., 108 N.C. 402; Dyeing v. Hosiery Co., 126 N.C. 294.