West & Bro. v. J. Dowling & Bro.
West & Bro. v. J. Dowling & Bro.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op- the Court by
We perceive no error prejudicial to the appellants in the instructions given, as to the criterion of damages for the alleged, violation of the contract as set forth in appellants’ counter-claim. Many authorities have been referred to by counsel for appellant and some of them tending to sustain the legal position assumed. There are many cases to be found in the books where the measure of damages is established, but the rule is made to change, by the facts proven in each particular case. The case referred to in Sedgwick on Damages, page 86, where the action was brought in the English Common Pleas on-the warranty of a chain cable, “that it would last two years as a substitute for a rope cable” and it was alleged that within the two years the cable broke, and thereby an anchor attached to it was lost, the court held that the warrantor was liable on his warranty for the value of the anchor. Bonodaile vs. Bronston, 8 Stanton. Another case cited is where one made a rope for another knowing that it was to be used in raising and lowering casks, and a cask of wine was spilled by reason of the rope breaking, it was held that a recovery might be had, for the cask of wine. These are extreme cases and no adjudication can be found in this State going so far in determining the question of damages, and Sedgwick in a note referring to the decision of the English court in regard to the cable, remarks “that the case is badly reported or the Commonwealth’s chief parties gave the warranty a very broad construction.” There is a material distinction however between the case at bar and the cases above referred to. ' The damages in each'one of those cases was sudden and complete and no effort upon the part of the owner of the wire or cable could have prevented the loss, and in the case we are now considering the appellees knew the moment the whiskey was placed in the barrels, that it was leaking out; this leakage continued for weeks, and they stood quietly by, and permitted the whiskey to escape from the barrels, when it wa3 in their power to have prevented it — this they failed, or refused .to do, relying, as they allege upon their warranty. We concur with the court below, that the criterion of damages in this case
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.