But we have a long line of cases which hold that, in order to remove the bar of the statute, there must be either an express promise to pay, or an acknowledgment of the debt accompanied by the expression of a willingness to pay it.

—a promise to pay when the debtor had collected the amount due him from a specified source, was held conditional and not enforcible until it appeared that the contingency expressed had happened.

The letters show an acknowledgment by White of the debt but we do not think they also contain any express or implied promise to pay such as is necessary under the Tennessee law to constitute a valid waiver of the defense of the statute of limitations.

[BOOK] Adverse Possession

[BOOK] A Treatise on the Law of Waiver

[BOOK] Illustrative cases on contracts

[BOOK] The Encyclopedic Digest of Tennessee Reports: Being a Complete Encyclopedia …