Biggs v. Clapp

Citations

• 74 Ill. 335

Syllabus

<p>1. Statutes.— rule of construction. If any part of a statute be intricate, obscure or doubtful, the proper way to discover the intention is to consider the other parts of the act, for the meaning of one part of a statute frequently leads to the sense of another; so that in the construction of one part of a statute every other part ought to be taken into consideration.</p> <p>2. Mechanic’s lien—right of sub-contractors to payment when work is abandoned. The mechanic’s lien law does not require that the owner shall pay any thing to a sub-contractor, when he is compelled to exhaust the original contract price, taking into account what he has rightfully paid the contractor, to complete the building, in case of abandonment by the contractor.</p> <p>3. Same —payment made by consent of sub-contractor. Where a sub-contractor, after serving notice of his lien upon the owner of a building, signs a writing, authorizing such owner to pay a certain other installment, referring to it as due when certain work is done, this will not be held conditional, but as indicating a particular installment, and the owner may rightfully make such payment before it is due, without becoming liable to the sub-contractor.</p> <p>4. Instruction—assuming a paper to be conditional. An instruction which assumes that a paper or writing in evidence is conditional, when it is not, is properly refused.</p>