Ambler v. Phillips

Citations

• 132 Pa. 167
• 19 A. 71
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 786

Syllabus

<p>1. Before a mere usage of trade, or a custom, can become so firmly imbedded in the law as to govern the rights of parties, it must be so certain, uniform and notorious as probably to be known to and understood by the parties entering into the contract: Corcoran v. Chess, 131 Pa. 356.</p> <p>2. Such usage or custom cannot ho established by single, isolated instances ; it should he reasonable, continued and acquiesced in by all acting within its operations: Copo v. Dodd, 13 Pa. 33; McMasters v. Railroad Co., 69 Pa. 374: so established, parties maybe presumed to have acted with reference to it.</p> <p>3. A rule of the Bricklayers’ Association, to apply to work a method of “constructive measurement,” varying “from month to mouth, almost from day to day,” cannot be read into a written contract silent as to the method of measurement, without evidence of actual knowledge and recognition of it by the parties.</p> <p>4. An engineer and surveyor testifying to thirty years experience and that he was frequently called upon to measure work such as that in controversy, it was error to refuse an inquiry of him what knowledge he had, if any, as to the alleged method of “ constructive measurement.”</p>