Buffalo Union Furnace Co. v. United States Shipping Bd. Emergency Fleet Corp.
Buffalo Union Furnace Co. v. United States Shipping Bd. Emergency Fleet Corp.
Opinion of the Court
“modify, suspend, cancel, or requisition any existing or future contract for the building, production, or purchase of ships or material.”
The defendant, by proper designation of the President, had power to give the order for the iron in question, and later to cancel the order when the war ended. In Meyer Scale & Hardware Co. v. U. S., -
“Contracts, whether existing or future, were brought within the scope of the legislation, and the power was given to modify or cancel them, and there was no further need for a part or all of the things that furnish their consideration.”
And the court further said:
“If the provision of this act with reference to the modification, cancellation, etc., of contracts applied to government contracts, as we believe and hold that it did, it was a provision of existing law which must he read into the contract, and the contract is to he treated) in determining the rights of the parties thereunder, as if modification and cancellation clauses were written therein.”
These quoted conclusions are believed persuasive of the correctness of the decision made herein. Furthermore, the general principle appears in many adjudications that, where there is an implied understanding that the performance of a contract shall without fault of either party end in certain contingencies, and neither party agrees to be responsible for the continuance of the contract beyond such contingency, it is in the contemplation of the parties that the contract is coupled with an implied condition that it may be dissolved when the particular purpose for which it was made is at an end.
Motion for rehearing is denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BUFFALO UNION FURNACE CO. v. UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD EMERGENCY FLEET CORPORATION
- Status
- Published