Fleming v. Hanley, Hoye & Co.
Fleming v. Hanley, Hoye & Co.
Opinion of the Court
This case was tried in the Common Pleas Division on the 15th day of June, 1898, and a verdict was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs for $650.00. The defendants then petitioned for a new trial, and the Appellate Division granted said petition and awarded a new trial upon the ground that the jury appeared to have found for the plaintiffs on the charges of fraud, which were not sustained by the evidence, 21 R. I. 141.
The case was again tried in the Common Pleas Division on the 28th day of February, 1900, and the plaintiffs recovered a verdict for $885.50.
The defendants have again petitioned for a new trial upon the grounds:
1. That the verdict is against the law and the evidence and the weight thereof.
2. That the damages awarded are excessive.
3. That the court erred in matters of law in its rulings and charge.
We think that the court properly instructed the jury upon this point, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. The cases cited by defendants’ counsel differ in one essential particular from this one. Stephens v. Wilkinson, 2 Barn. & Ad. 320, was an action upon a bill of exchange given as part payment for articles bought by the drawer which the vendor afterwards forcibly took possession of. It was held that the vendee could not treat this act of the vendor’s as a rescission of the contract, but must resort to his action of trespass. At first sight this case seems almost identical with the case at bar, but we think they may be clearly distinguished. In the case cited the terms of the sale were agreed upon and the sale was complete. ' In this case the material elements of the sale were never agreed upon. It lay in the power of either party to say “we have tried to come to an agreement and have failed; we will retrace our steps and consider the bargain off,” and the act of the defendants in taking possession of the property could mean nothing else. If, as they contend, it was consistent with an affirmance of the bargain, the question arises : What *254 was that bargain ? And the answer must be: Its terms were never fully agreed upon. In Lee v. Stone, 21 R. I. 123, the length of time the mortgage was to run and the rate of interest to be paid were held to be essential parts of a contract to sell and purchase land, and without a statement of these terms a contract is not enforcible.
It is said in Page v. Eduljee, 14 L. T. R. N. S. 176 : “The authorities are uniform upon this point, that if before actual delivery the vendor resells the property while the purchaser is in default, the resale will not authorize the purchaser to consider the contract rescinded so as to entitle him to recover back any deposit of the price or to resist paying any balance of it which may be still due. If this is the case where the possession of property sold remains with the vendor d fortiori must it be so where there has been a delivery, and the vendor takes it out of the possession of the purchaser and resells it.”
Ashbrook v. Hite, 9 Ohio St. 357, affirms the right of a vendor who retains possession of a chattel, for which part payment has been made, to resell on default of the purchaser and to recover the balance of the purchase-money from him. These cases would be decisive of the one we are considering if the terms of the bargain had been fully agreed upon.
A new trial is denied, and the case must be remanded to the Common Pleas Division for judgment upon the verdict.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- M. H. Fleming Et Ux. vs. Hanley, Hoye & Co.
- Status
- Published