Stone v. Hammell

Beatty, C. J., concurring.

I concur. A surety who pays the debt of his principal has an undoubted right to recover the amount paid. But such is not the case here. The liability of the principal had been extinguished by the statute of limitations before any payment by the surety. The absence of the plaintiff from the state had kept the claim alive as to him, though it was extinguished as to the defendant. The plaintiff, therefore, did not pay the defendant’s debt, — he merely paid his own debt. By so doing he could not possibly acquire a right of action against the defendant.