Present: Lascelles C.J. and De Sampayo A.J.

ARUNASALEM v. RAMASAMY.

Prescription-Part payment-Acknowledgment of debt and promise to pay the balance.

A payment on account is necessarily an acknowledgment of debt, and the law, in the absence of anything to the contrary, implies from an acknowledgment of the debt a promise to pay the balance. This implied promise creates a new obligation and takes the debt out of the operation of the statute, and this is so even though at the date of payment the debt may have been already statute-barred. The implication of a promise may be rebutted by any special circumstances attending the payment.

THE facts appear from the judgment.

J. Joseph, for the defendant, appellant.-The plaintiff claims wages from July 1, 1910, to May 20, 1913. The only item of payment by defendant was in September, 1912. The action was instituted on May 29, 1913. All wages due before May 29, 1912, are barred. One payment made within a year of action keeps alive the entire claim. See Usuf Saile v. Punchirala 1 For a part payment to take a claim out of prescription, it must have been made under circumstances