Account Stated - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition account-stated

Definition :

Account stated, An account stated is the admission of a balance due from one party to another, and that balance being due there is a debt; the statement of the account and the admission of the balance implies a promise in law to pay it; see Irving v. Veitch, (1837) 3 M&W 106. The account must have been stated before action brought. An account stated, however, creates only a prima facie liability, which may be rebutted by disputing the debts charged in the account, as, for instance, by proving mistake (among other ordinary defences); Camillo Tank Steamship Co. v. Alexandria Engineering Works, (1921) 38 TLR 134. For statutory power to re-open an account stated, see MONEY LENDERS ACT. By the Infants Relief Act, 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 62), s. 1, an account stated with an infant is void.

The expression 'account stated' has more than one meaning. It sometimes means a claim to payment made by one party and admitted by the other to be correct. There is, however, a second kind of account stated where the account contains items both of credit and debit and the figures on both sides are adjusted between the parties and a balance struck, Gordon Woodroffe and Co. (Madras) Ltd v. Shaik MA Majid, AIR 1967 SC 181 (187). [Limitation Act, 1963 (36 of 1963), Art. 26]