Adinolfi v. Hazlett

Citations

• 242 Pa. 25
• 88 A. 869
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 831

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Contracts—Right of contract — Character of the right — Building contracts — Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 881— Freedom of contract — Infringement by legislature.</p> <p>1. Tho right to make contracts is a property right included in the right to acquire, possess, and protect private property which is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pennsylvania, for without the privilege of contracting there could not be free and full enjoyment of property; the exercise of this right by persons who are sui juris, when not contra bonos mores, or in contravention of public policy, cannot be prevented by the legislature.</p> <p>2. The Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 381, which declares that no provision in any contract that the award of an engineer, architect, or other person, shall be final or conclusive, or that the certificate of an engineer, architect, or other person shall be a condition precedent to maintaining an action on such contract, shall oust the jurisdiction of the courts, but that controversies arising on contracts containing such provisions shall be determined as if such provisions were not in such contracts, is an unreasonable interference by the legislature with contracts which are neither contra bonos mores, nor in contravention of public policy, and is unconstitutional and void.</p> <p>3. The exemption of municipal or other corporations invested with the privilege of taking private property for public use from the operation of the Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 381, is an express declaration by the legislature that those provisions in contracts which it has attempted to invalidate, are not against public policy.</p> <p>4. Where a subcontractor agreed with a general contractor to construct certain stone work in connection with the building of a church by the general contractor, and the subcontract provided that certain payments should be made as the work progressed, but only upon certificates of the architect, and that “all payments shall be due when cer