Lawrence v. Dana

15 F. Cas. 26, 4 Cliff. 1, 1869 U.S. App. LEXIS 1152
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 20, 1869
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 15 F. Cas. 26 (Lawrence v. Dana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawrence v. Dana, 15 F. Cas. 26, 4 Cliff. 1, 1869 U.S. App. LEXIS 1152 (circtdma 1869).

Opinion

CLIFFORD, Circuit Justice,

said that the court had given the matter very careful consideration, and that he concurred with Judge [45]*45LOWELL. He wished to add, the twenty-second additional rule of this court provides that “counsel will not be heard unless a written or printed abstract of the case be first filed, together with the points intended to be made and the authorities intended to be cited, in support of them arranged under the respective points.” The construction of that rule has never been that the party must state his whole argument, but his “points” and authorities. The practice varies with different counsel, and with their own convenience and the circumstances of each ease, whether the brief shall be short or extensive. Also, counsel sometimes interchange new authorities at the argument, and this is allowed if it is done in season for the other side to reply to them. Cases frequently arise, where arguments are oral, where the respondents will suggest that the complainant has used new authorities, and will ask leave to reply to them orally or in writing, which is generally allowed. Sometimes, where they are important, a week has been allowed for such a reply. Where arguments are oral, no practical difficulties arise, because every thing is in the presence of the court, and can be settled at once. Where the argument is in writing, the application of the rule is more difficult, but the rule itself is the same.

The court remembers no cases in this circuit, and few in the supreme court, where controversies like this have arisen; yet the court does not see any serious difficulty in determining what ought to be done. If new authorities or new propositions touching the merits had been introduced, the obvious course would have been, reasonably, to cite legal authorities responsive to them, or to reply to particular propositions. That would have presented no difficulty, because at a glance we would have verified whether these were new cases; if so, the court would desire to hear suggestions about them, and to know whether there were other cases which would control them. This is to be taken in connection with the twenty-second rule of the supreme court, binding on this court, and which provides that the plaintiff or appellant shall be entitled to open and close. These, being settled rules of practice, are the rights of the parties, and the court must follow them. The complainant was entitled to open and close. The respondent had a right to expect a brief, and one was furnished. The ease was argued under the order already read. According to it, the respond; ent replied upon the point of title upon which 'he was ready, and the complainant closed upon that branch of the case. Under it, time was given to the respondent to reply in writing upon the point of piracy, upon which he was not then ready, and that time was enlarged by a proper agreement of counsel, owing to the engagements of the respondent. Time was also given to the complainant to close on the question of piracy, and that time was enlarged by an agreement of counsel, for their convenience. The arguments came in on the 1st of August, and the court has had the case under consideration for seven or eight months, not devoting all its time to it, but taking it up from time to time, as its other engagements permitted. At this stage of the case there can be no further argument, unless the court should reach some point where they desire a re-argument. In other words, a proposition for re-argument must come from the court, and not from the party.

Questions of intrinsic importance and of great difficulty are presented for decision in respect to the title of the complainant, and as they are in their nature preliminary, they will be first considered. Briefly stated, his claim of title, considered broadly, is to the additions to and emendations of the text of the two editions as published under his supervision, to the memoir of the author, as contained in those editions, to the annotations prepared by him and published in those editions, and to the arrangement of the same, and the mode in which they are therein combined and connected with the text, and to the indices as published in those editions. He rests his claim upon the following grounds, as substantially stated in the bill of complaint: First, upon a contract or agreement between Catharine Wheat-on and himself, that she should make no use of his notes aforesaid in any new edition of the work without his written consent; and that she would convey to him by a formal instrument, the right to make any use he might see fit to make of his own notes. Secondly, upon the ground that in the consideration of a court of equity he is taken and deemed to be the owner and proprietor of the copyrights, in and as to all the matters contributed by him and published in those two editions. Evidently, both claims, as presented, have respect to the agreement as expressed in the memorandum of June 14, 1863, and the subsequent correspondence upon that subject, as the first is founded in covenant or contract, and the second in an equitable title to the copyright, derived from the original arrangement and by virtue of the agreement expressed in that written paper. Confirmation of that proposition is not needed, because the language employed in the stating part of the bill of complaint is too plain for controversy; but if it were not so, every vestige of ambiguity is removed by the principal prayers of the bill of complaint, which are for an injunction, and foí-an account, and for a good and sufficient deed conveying the legal title to the copyrights.

The respondents contend that the complainant is not entitled to any relief for several reasons: 1. Because the memorandum, as they contend, is not a perfected contract, but merely a note or memorandum of the stipulations of a proposed agreement, as to the true [46]*46understanding and definite terms of which the parties never actually agreed, and on which their minds never in fact met. 2. Because, the parties having failed to agree as to the true understanding of the memorandum and the terms of the formal agreement which it contemplated, the complainant relinquished and abandoned the whole subject-matter of the instrument, and so notified the respondents. 3. They also contend that the agreement cannot be enforced, because the same was procured by fraudulent misrepresentations and concealments of the complainant. 4. That the agreement cannot be enforced, because the memorandum is without consideration. 5. Because the basis of the memorandum and the negotiations which led to it were the supposed legal copyrights held by the said Catharine; and they insist that those copyrights are void, and consequently that the agreement is inoperative, inasmuch as the parties entered into the same through mutual mistake. 6. Because the memorandum containing the agreement does not transfer nor assign any copyright to the complainant, or provide for or contemplate any such transfer or assignment.

Search is made in vain for any support to the first proposition of the defence, as applied to the terms or execution of the memorandum. Interviews took place between the complainant and Professor Parsons, and they conferred together upon the subject-matter embraced in that memorandum, as suggested by the said Catharine; and the proofs show that they came to a perfectly amicable result; that the memorandum was drawn by the latter and delivered to the complainant, to be transmitted to the said Martha B.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 F. Cas. 26, 4 Cliff. 1, 1869 U.S. App. LEXIS 1152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawrence-v-dana-circtdma-1869.