Buckley v. Silverberg

Citations

• 113 Cal. 673
• 45 P. 804
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 840

Syllabus

<p>Agency—Sale Negotiated by Ostensible Agent — Action for Price— Liability of Principal.—A principal is liable to an action for the price of cattle the sale of which was negotiated by an ostensible agent; and his agency is ostensible, when the business done by him, so far as open to the observation of third parties, was consistent with the existence of an agency, and where, as to the transaction in question, plaintiff’s agent was justified in believing that he was dealing with him as defendant’s agent.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence— Cross-examination—Collateral Matter. —Where collateral matter is brought out on cross-examination of a witness, the party cross-examining cannot afterward rebut the evidence so called out.</p> <p>Id.—Collateral Correspondence—Harmless Ruling. — The exclusion of collateral correspondence offered to show the relations between the defendant and the one claimed to be his agent, is harmless, where it is merely a repetition of the oral testimony on that point.</p> <p>Id.—Ratification of Acts of Alleged Agent — Retaining Benefits— Instruction.—An instruction as to the ratification by the defendant of the acts of an alleged agent by retaining the benefits of the transaction, is proper where there is evidence to show a promise of defendant to pay a draft for the price of cattle sold after having received them, and after knowledge that the seller claimed that the person who negotiated the sale was the agent of the defendant, and where it appears that defendant thereafter slaughtered the cattle.</p> <p>Instructions—Applicability to Evidence.—Either party has the right to have an instruction given to the jury based upon his own theory of the case, if there is any evidence to support it.</p>