Wilcox v. Montour Iron & Steel Co.
Wilcox v. Montour Iron & Steel Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The first clause of the lease creates a term for one year, and if there were nothing further upon the term appellant would clearly be right in its contention that its liability for rent
Another illustration leads us to the same result. If the condition be transposed to the head of the sentence, so as to read “ unless either party shall have given notice .... this lease shall be deemed to be renewed and in force for another year, and so on from year to year,” the meaning of the sentence as a whole would not be in anywise changed, and yet the application of the notice to the first term would be unquestionable.
If there were any doubt as to the meaning of the parties from the language they have adopted, it would be set at rest by
If the sixth clause, providing for a peaceable delivery of the premises. by the lessee at the expiration “ of the said term,” were repugnant to the seventh, it would have to give way, as the written clause is presumed to express the meaning of the parties more exactly than the printed: Grandin v. Ins. Co., 107 Pa.,26; Duffield v. Hue, 129 Pa. 94, 108; Dick v. Ireland, 130 Pa. 299. But there is no real repugnance. “The said term” in the sixth clause means, not merely the first year, but the whole term held under the lease, whether one year under the first clause, or several under the seventh. It is at the end .of the tenancy, whenever by the terms of the whole lease it does end, that the lessee is to surrender the possession.
The learned judge was a little incautious in affirming plaintiff’s second point with the remark that the payment of the first month’s rent for the new year was an affirmance of the lease for such year. It was evidence of affirmance, but was open to explanation to show that such was not the actual intention. The error, however, did appellants no harm. They were liable on the terms of the lease and the admitted facts, and none of the evidence offered and excluded would have varied their liability.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Wilcox v. Montour Iron and Steel Co.
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Landlord and tenant — Lease—Henewal. A lease “ for the term of one year, to commence and be computed from March 1, 1886,” was in printed form, and the clause providing that “ if the lessee shall hold over after the expiration of the term hereby created, with the consent of the lessor, it shall be held and taken to be a renewal .... and so on until either party shall give previous notice,” etc, was stricken out and this clause written in: “ From and after the expiration of the term hereby created this lease shall be deemed to be renewed and in force for another year, and so on from year to year unless either party shall have given to the other notice of its intention to determine said tenancy sixty days prior to the expiration of any current year.” Held, that sixty days’ notice was required to be given by the lessee before March 1, 1887, in order to determine the tenancy. A covenant in the lease that “ the lessee shall, and will, during the continuance of the said term, keep, and at the expiration thereof, peaceably •deliver up the said demised premises,” etc, is not repugnant to the clause of renewal. It is at the end of the tenancy, whenever by the terms of the whole lease it does end, that the lessee is to surrender the possession. Payment of rent as evidence of renewal. Payment of rent after the expiration of the original term is not an affirmance of the lease for a new year, but merely evidence of affirmance, which may be rebutted by proof that such was not the intention of the parties.