Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1888 — A Lie Justified by Court. [ARTICLE]

A Lie Justified by Court.

In reverting the judgment of commd.n pleas court, No. 3, says the Philadelphia Times, in the suit oi Williams against North & Co., the supreme court yesterdav passed upon a point of morality as well as of law. Wi liams pu?chared a piano tr:m Nor h & Co., on the installment plan, and defaulted on his monthly payments. He had signed a contract agreeing to allowan inspection of the piano a.t any time by any agent of the firm, and further agreeing to allow any agent to remove the piano without let or hindrance if the monthly payments were not kept up. The firm sent an agent to his house to get the piano back, and the agent obtained admissioprto the parlor by the false representation that he had come to tune the instrument. Having succeeded in getting in he took itaway with him. Wi Hairs claimed that this was gaining admission to his premises by false pretenses, and was therefore a trespass. He sued and recovered a verdict for exemplary damages. The supreme court now holds that the agent did no more than the contract entitled him to do, and that a man who gains admission to another man’s house by diplomatic means when he has reason to suppose that his business is distasteful to the owner is not necessarily a trespasser . The verdict is therefore set aside.