Gaines v. McAdam

79 Ill. App. 201, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 236
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 6, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 79 Ill. App. 201 (Gaines v. McAdam) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaines v. McAdam, 79 Ill. App. 201, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 236 (Ill. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Adams

delivered the opinion of the court.

It being agreed that the statute of frauds of the State of Arkansas is substantially the same as the like statute in this State, the question is whether there is any memorandum or note in writing of the contract sued on, signed by appellee, within the meaning of section 2 of our statute of frauds, which is as follows:

“ No action shall be brought to charge any person upon any contract for the sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning them, for a longer term than one year, unless some memorandum or note thereof shall be in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or some other person thereunto by him lawfully authorized in writing, signed by such party,” etc.

It is admitted in the stipulation that each of the agents, Corrington and Maurice, ivas duly authorized to do what he did “ in the renting of the store building of A. B. Gaines, situated in the city of Hot Springs, in the State of Aricansas.” What each did in the matter appears from the stipulation to be that Corrington, appellant’s agent, some days prior to November 11, 1893, offered to rent the premises to McAdam, the appellee, for one year for $900, payable in monthly installments of $75 each, payable on the first of each month in advance, and that Maurice, appellee’s agent, November 11, 1893, accepted the offer for one year from November 15,1893. Each agent having “ been duly authorized ” to do what he did in the premises, there was thus created an oral contract, good at common law, and not void, but merely non-enforcible, by virtue of the statute, in the absence of some note or memorandum thereof in writing, signed by the party sought to be charged, or by his lawful authorized agent. Browne on Statute of Frauds, 4th Ed., Sec. 344; Wheeler v. Frankenthal, 78 Ill. 124.

Was there such note or memorandum ?

“ Maurice communicated what was said at the interview between himself and Corrington to E. J. McAdam,” the appellee. He therefore communicated to appellee, among other things, that Corrington offered to rent “ a certain store belonging to A. B. Gaines, the plaintiff, to E. J. McAdam, * * "x" for one year at $900, payable in monthly installments of $75 each, said installments payable on the first of each month in advance.”

The communication from Maurice to appellee was necessarily either by letter or telegram, probably the former, because the stipulation shows that Maurice, the agent, was in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and appellee in Chicago, Illinois.

Appellee, after receiving the communication from Maurice, and with the same before him, sent to Maurice this telegram:

“ Chicago, Nov. 11; 1893.
To W. G. Maurice, Hot Springs :
Take Gaines’ store six months, if can’t lease one year.
E. J. McAdam.”

Maurice received the telegram November 11, 1893, the day it was sent, and immediately showed it to Corrington, appellant’s agent, and rented the store on the terms proposed by Corrington, for one year from November 15, 1893.

November 13, 1893, after Maurice had rented the store, he received another telegram from McAdam, as follows:

“ Oak Park, III., 11-13, ’93.
To W. G. Maurice :
Yes, lease it; re-rent half if possible—sent you check.
E. J. McAdam.”

It thus appears that appellee, having before him the written communication of his agent, in which was stated what occurred at the interview between him and the appellant’s agent, in which interview the names of the parties, “ the store room belonging to A. B. Gaines,” and the terms on which such store room was offered to be rented, are all fully stated, accepted the offer by written telegrams signed by him.

Appellee’s counsel objects, “ There is nothing in the record whatever to show that Gaines’ store room, mentioned in the agreed statement of facts, was the land mentioned in the declaration.” This objection is based on the fact that the premises alleged to have been leased are described in the declaration as “ lot 42, in block 89, in the city of Hot Springs,” etc. But, as stated by appellee’s counsel, in their argument, “ The case was tried by the judge, a jury being waived,, upon an agreed statement of facts.” The statement contains no reservation of the right of objection or exception. This being the case, the objection can not prevail.

In Kimball v. Preston, 2 Gray, 567, the court say: “ It is a well-settled rule of practice that when parties agree upon a statement of facts embracing the merits of the controversy, upon the decision of which judgment is to be rendered, all objections as to forms of proceeding are waived, unless expressly reserved.” Citing Haven v. Foster, 9 Pick. 112, and Ellsworth v. Brewer, 11 lb. 316.

In Esty v. Currier, 98 Mass. 500, the court say: “But an agreed statement of facts waives all defects in the pleadings, even if the pleadings are referred to as part of the statement, and authorizes a judgment on the merits as if they were duly presented by proper pleadings.” To the same effect are Bixler v. Kunkle, 17 S. & It. (Penn.) 298; and Perry v. Murray, 55 la. 416.

The telegram from appellee to his agent, Maurice, of date Kovember 11, 1893, “ take Gaines’ store six months, if can’t lease one year,” manifestly referred to the written communication from Maurice to appellee, which the latter had before him, and which, as we think, must be taken in connection with the telegram, in determining whether there was a sufficient memorandum signed by appellee to charge him. The fact that the telegram was addressed to appellee’s agent and not to appellant is immaterial, because “ letters addressed to a third party, stating and affirming a contract, may be used against the writer as a memorandum of it.” Browne on Stat. of Frauds, Sec. 854a.

The telegram signed by appellee and exhibited, as it was, by his agent to appellant’s agent, taken in connection with the written communication to which it referred, was, as we think, a sufficient memorandum in writing of the oral contract.

In Wood v. Davis, 82 Ill. 311, which was assumpsit to recover damages for a failure to perform a contract for the sale of land, the statute of frauds was pleaded, and it was objected, among other things, that there was no writing containing a description of the land.

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Bluebook (online)
79 Ill. App. 201, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaines-v-mcadam-illappct-1898.