Roberts v. Mobile & Ohio Railroad
Roberts v. Mobile & Ohio Railroad
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This action was brought by the defendant in error to recover the amount of certain instalments of stock in the defendant’s company, for which the plaintiff in error had subscribed.
The declaration states in substance, that before the first day of
The defendant demurred, assigning sundry grounds of demurrer. The court overruled the demurrer, and the correctness of that decision is the question now presented for consideration.
Of the various grounds of demurrer assigned below, but two are here insisted upon, and these we will proceed to examine.
The first objection is, that the contract of subscription is without date; and as by its terms, the three per cent, was to be paid in three months from the date of the subscription, it could not be ascertained, from the writing, when that sum became due, nor when the other instalments, which were to be paid after that, were to be required.
The declaration avers that the subscription was made “ before the 1st June, 1853,” without specifying any date; .and that the several instalments sued for were called for in June, September, and January, following. But the subscription paper set out in the
It is insisted that the statements of the contract of subscription are inconsistent as to the time of payment of the two and three per cent, instalments, in first stating that the two per cent, is to be paid at the time of subscription, and the three per cent, in three months from that date, and in the conclusion, that these sums were not to be called for until 1st March, 1853; and it is said that the terms of payment first stated must prevail, and not the latter. But this is immaterial. The first two instalments are not sued for here, and the question is, not when they were due, but when the subsequent instalments were demandable. And there can be ho question but that the former were payable on the 1st March, 1853, and that the latter were payable thereafter, at the discretion of the company, according to the terms of the contract.
This brings us to consider the second objection taken to the declaration, which is, that the contract stipulates that the remainder “(after the payment of the two and three per cent, instalments, and which embraces the sums sued for) should be paid,” when requisite for the payment of the contractors for the “ construction of the road, in such instalments as may be called and required by the president and directors of said company, from time to time,” the amount to be expended in Itawamba county, &c.; and, therefore, that it was necessary to aver that these instalments were requisite for the payment of contractors for the construction of the road in Itawamba county, or in Tishomingo county, that being a condition precedent to the collection of the instalments.
It is manifest from the terms of the contract, that the agreement was not, that the defendant should pay the instalments for the general use of the company, or absolutely, upon the requisition of the president and directors; he was bound to pay only
It is true that, by the terms of the contract, the president and directors had the right to call for the payment of such instalments, and at such times as they thought proper, in furtherance of the object of the subscription. But this power was subject to the condition that the instalments should be requisite to pay contractors for the construction of the road at the points stated.
Considering this a condition precedent to the liability of the defendant to pay the instalments sued for, the declaration was insufficient in not stating that the contingency, as stated in the contract, had occurred.
On this ground, the judgment is reversed, the demurrer sustained, and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
A petition for a re-argument was filed, hut overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Josiah Roberts v. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company
- Status
- Published