Ilsley v. Jones
Ilsley v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
1. The just construction to be given to the count to which the defendants have demurred is not free from difficulty. But whether viewed as alleging a contract of guaranty
2. The instructions requested by the defendants’ counsel, in relation to the withdrawal of the offer or agreement to accept the plaintiff’s draft, should have been given to the jury. If the letter of the defendants of October 29th 1856 reached the plaintiff before the second draft was presented by Jackson to the defendants for their acceptance, Jackson having no interest in the draft, and acting only as the agent or messenger of the plaintiff to get the acceptance of the defendants, the withdrawal of the offer was made before the plaintiff had signified his assent to the proposition made by the defendants to accept. The mere writing of the draft, so long as it remained in the plaintiff’s possession or under his control, did not make such assent. If, when the draft was presented by his agent, he knew the offer to accept it had been withdrawn, the defendants clearly were not bound to accept.
The difficulty with the instructions actually given by the pre siding judge is not that, as applied to the state of facts suggested by him, they do not state the law correctly, but that they
3. If the agreement of the defendants was to accept merely for the accommodation of the plaintiff, the rule as to damages given by the judge was erroneous. The rule should have been given substantially as requested by the defendants. Upon the facts reported, however, it is difficult to understand how such a question could arise; to see what evidence there is that the draft was to be accepted for the accommodation only of the plaintiff. Exceptions sustained.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Nathan Ilsley v. Charles F. Jones & another
- Status
- Published