Receipts, uses of. A receipt is often use ful as evidence of facts collateral to those stated in it. It proves the payment ; and whatever inference may be legally drawn from the fact of the payment described will be supported by the receipt. Thus, receipts for rent for a given term have been held prima facie evidence of the payment of all rent previously accrued; Decker v. Living ston, 15 Johns. (N. Y.) 479; Brewer v. Knapp, 1 Pick. (Mass.) 332. And they have been admitted on trial of a writ of right, as showing acts of ownership on the part of him who gave them ; 7 C. 'B. 21. A receipt given by A to B for the price of a horse, afterwards levied on as property of A, but claimed by B, has been admitted as evidence of ownership against the attaching creditor ; Obart v. Letson, 17 N. J. L. 78, 34 Am. Dec. 182. A receipt "in full of all accounts," the amount being less than that called for by the accounts of the party giving it, was held in his favor evidence of a mutual settlement of accounts on both sides, and of payment of the balance ascertained to be due after set ting off one account against the other; Al vord v. Baker, 9 Wend. (N. Y.) 323. A re ceipt given by an attorney for securities he was to collect and account for has been held presumptive evidence of the genuineness and justness of the securities; Hair v. Glover,
14 Ala. 500. And a general receipt by an at- I torney for an evidence of debt then due, is presumed to have been received by him as attorney, for collection; and he must show the contrary to avoid an action for neglect in not collecting; Smedes Filers v. Elmen dorf, 3 Johns. (N. Y.) 185.
`A receipt signed in the name of a certain person by another person, constitutes no evidence of the receipt of the money by the latter ; Perkins v. Tooley, 74 Mich. 220, 41 N. W. 903.
Receipts, larceny and forgery of. A re ceipt may be the subject of larceny; Brower v. Peabody, 2 Abb. Pr. (N. Y.) 211; or of forgery ; 7 C. & P. 459. Punched railroad tickets shown to be receipts to the conductor and vouchers to him for the amount of fare between stations, are receipts within a stat ute making it larceny to steal any receipt ; State v. Wilson, 95 Ia. 341, 64 N. W. 266.
And it is a sufficient "uttering" of a forged receipt to place it in the hands of a person for inspection with intent fraudulently to induce him to make an advance on the faith that the payment mentioned in the spurious receipt has been made ; 14 E. L. & Eq. 556. See FORGERY.
See RELEASE.