Parrott v. Peacock Military College
Parrott v. Peacock Military College
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for $375, instituted by Peacock Military College against appellants. The suit is based upon a written contract, signed by Mrs. C. L. Parrott, in which she bound herself to pay the sum of $475 at San Antonio, Tex., for the tuition of her son. On the 18th day of December, 1913, appellant filed a plea of privilege to be sued in Hunt county, which plea was heard by the court on March 17, 1914, and overruled. The suit Was filed on July 31, 1911, the plea of privilege being filed two years thereafter. The cause was tried by a jury, special issues having been submitted by the court, and on the answers judgment was rendered in favor of appellee for the sum of $365. From that judgment this appeal has been perfected.
The testimony shows that Mrs. Parrott was the agent of her husband, and authorized to make the contract for the enrollment of their son with appellee. She signed the instrument, binding herself to pay the sum of $475 to appellee at San Antonio, Tex., stating in the contract that her son was enrolled “for the session beginning September 12, 1910, and ending May 12, 1911, for th'e entire session.” The husband testified that he had authorized his wife to take their son to San Antonio and place him in the school for the session. Contemporaneously with the signing of the contract, an oral contract was made by and between Mrs. Parrott and ap-pellee that the tuition should be paid quarterly, and she paid $100 to Prof. Peacock, the owner of the school.
“We think, as indicated above, that the law imposes upon the party relying upon such a plea the duty of demanding the action of the court thereon at the time the statutes and rule above quoted require it to act in the particular case, and that his failure to do so is a waiver thereof. When he brings the matter before the court it may be continued, or the court may make such orders as the condition of its docket may render necessary, and there will, of course, be ao waiver.”
With the same effect is Millinery Company v. Melcher, 142 S. W. 100, where the authorities are collated. There can be no doubt therefore, that the plea of privilege was waived by appellants, and the suit was properly tried in Bexar county. The assignments are overruled.
“Whether the act be done in the name of the principal, or in the name of the agent acting for the principal, would seem, in reason, to .be quite immaterial. Let it be done as it may, it is the agent who performs the act. By his agency alone can it be done; and, if that agency appears, it should, in the nature of things, be sufficient to bind the principal.”
Whatever may have been the strictness of the common law in regard to the rule that, in order to bind the principal, the contract must, on its face, purport to be that of tbe principal, tbe rule bas been relaxed in Texas, and tbe only question that arises is, Did the agent have the power and authority to execute the contract to which his name, and not that of his principal, is signed? We think the evidence in this case clearly indicates that Mrs. Parrott had the power and authority, as agent of her husband, to make a contract to enroll her son as a pupil for the entire session, and, no matter whether the contiact was written or verbal, it bound her husband.
The same ruling applies to the seventh assignment of error.
For the reasons given in overruling other assignments, the eighth assignment of error is overruled.
The assignments of error from the ninth to the fifteenth, inclusive, are without merit, and are overruled.
The judgment is affirmed.
On Motion for Rehearing.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- Parrott Et Ux. v. Peacock Military College.
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