Stewart v. Power
Stewart v. Power
Opinion of the Court
The first two grounds of error presented by counsel in their brief seem scarcely warranted by the record. It is said that the court erred in sustaining a challenge for cause. The record is not altogether clear, but it seems more probable that the juror was excused at his own request than on account of the challenge. It says that the juror was challenged for cause, and the challenge
2. The next objection is that the court rejected certain testimony. As this testimony was subsequently admitted, we suppose any error in the ruling, if error there was, was avoided.
3. The third alleged error, and the main question in the case, is as to the ruling in reference to the measure of damages. Upon this there was no specific instruction given by *the court to the jury. The question arises on the admission of testimony, and the rulings of the court thereon. The important fads are these: W. R. Power, one of the defendants, made a contract with the plaintiffs by which they were to ship to him from their nursery at Macon City several hundred dollars’ worth of fruit trees. There was a dispute in the testimony as to the amount of the contract, and the place of delivery. Power testified that the amount was $1,000, and the place of delivery Marysville. He also testified that prior to this contract he had contracted to deliver fruit trees in Mitchell and Osborne counties, one hundred miles or so west of Marysville, and beyond the reach of the railroad. He further testified that these contracts he had so made were disclosed to the plaintiffs; that the trees purchased from them were to fill these contracts; and that the plaintiffs knew, at the time of their contract, that the trees they were selling were purchased for that purpose. He further testified that the men to whom he had contracted trees were responsible; that he failed in his contracts by reason of the default of plaintiffs, and lost the profits he would otherwise have made. He was then asked what would have been those profits, and to this, question the plaintiffs objected. The court overruled the objection,, and the testimony was admitted. Was there error in this ruling?
Plaintiffs contend that the measure of damages was the difference between the contract price and the market value at the time and place of delivery fixed by the contract. That this is the general rule in case of the breach of a contract for the sale of chattels cannot be doubted. Sedg. Dam. 260, and cases cited in notes. But this rule is not without its exceptions, and the case at bar presents one. The profits which a vendee might realize by subsequent disposal of the chattels are not considered in the estimate of damages, because such profits are speculative and uncertain. He may or may not sell. Prices may go up or down. Parties cannot be deemed to have foreseen or contracted for the possible changes subsequent *to the time of delivery. If an article of ordinary merchandise, it may be presumed that it is purchasable at the market price. But
By the Roman law, in case of the breach of the contract of sale by non-delivery, the measure of damages was all that the buyer lost or failed to gain in relation to the thing itself, over and above the price paid; id quod interest propter rem ipsam non habitam. In the draft of a civil code prepared by the code commissioners of the state of New York, the general rule for the measure of damages on the breach • of a contract is stated to be “the amount which will compensate the-party aggrieved for all the detriment proximately caused thereby,, which the party in fault had notice, at the time of entering into the contract, or at any time before the breach, and while it was in his power to perform the contract upon his part, would be likely to result from such breach, or which, in the’ ordinary course of things, would be likely to result therefrom.” Civil Code, § 1840.
We see no error in the admission of this testimony, and the judgment of the district court will be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. P. Stewart and another v. W. R. Power and another
- Status
- Published