Corbett v. Wolford
Corbett v. Wolford
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court. '
Corbett contracted to purchase from the appellees twenty tons of hay at the price of eight dollars a ton. The hay was contained in several ricks in an open field which belonged to Wolford and his wife, and was occupied by the Ripples as their tenants. The contract was verbal. According to the seventeenth section of the Statute of Frauds, a sale
The question at the trial was whether the title to the hay had vested in Corbett, before it was burnt up. On the prayer of the appellees, the Court granted the following instruction : “ The jury are instructed that if they believe from the évidence that the defendant bought the hay in controversy and directed his hands or employees to bale the same, and said hands took possession of said hay, and by topping the same and cutting down the sides thereof prepared the same for such baling and that such hay was afterwards destroyed by fire, then the jury are instructed that such acts are evidence of the receipt and acceptance by the defendant of the hay in controversy, and their verdict must be for the plaintiffs.”
■ The facts stated if there had been no others in evidence would ha-ve justified the jury in finding a verdict for the plaintiffs. We do not.desire to be unnecessarily critical in considering the form of the instruction. It is well, however, to say, that this Court has, on several occasions, disapproved of this method of putting a case before the jury. Among other authorities we refer to Hurt v. Woodland, 24 Md. 417; Moore v. McDonald, 68 Md. 336; Kennedy v.
It was held in Belt v. Marriott, 9 Gill, 335, that “ in order to satisfy the Statute (of Frauds) there must be a delivery of the goods with intent to vest the right of possession in the
Reversed and new trial awarded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WALTER SCOTT CORBETT v. JACOB E. WOLFORD and Others
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Instructions to the Jury—Sale of Goods Within the Statute of Frauds —Acceptance and Receipt. A prayer instructing the jury that the plaintiff is entitled to recover provided they find certain facts, withdraws from the jury the consideration of all facts other than those mentioned, and if from such excluded facts, the jury would be'justified in drawing a conclusion different from that which the prayer requires them to find, it is error to grant such prayer. In a sale of goods where there is no memorandum of the agreement or part payment of the purchase money, there must be, under the Statute of Frauds, a delivery of the goods with the intent to vest the possession in the buyer and there must be an acceptance by the latter with intent to take possession as owner. Defendant orally agreed to buy certain ricks of hay standing in an open field, and afterwards sent men in his service to pack the hay. One of these began the work and a few minutes later all of the hay was accidentally destroyed by fire. In an action for the price the defendant testified that the agreement was that after being packed in bales the seller was to deliver the hay at a certain station, when the price was to be paid. Held,, that it should be left to the jury to say whether the defendant had accepted the hay by beginning to bale it or whether the acceptance and receipt was to take place after delivery by the seller at the station.