Cole v. Ellwood Power Co.

Citations

• 216 Pa. 283
• 65 A. 678
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 801

Syllabus

<p>Statute of frauds — Parol license — Lease—Equity—Contract.</p> <p>If a license, or privilege to do something on the land of the licensor, is given by parol, then followed by the expenditure of money, on the faith of the parol agreement, it is irrevocable and is to be treated as a binding contract. Equity treats the license thus executed as a contract giving absolute rights, and protects the licensee in the enjoyment of those rights.</p> <p>A parol lease of a quarry reserving royalties confers upon the lessee a property right, and if the quarry is taken in condemnation proceedings he is entitled to damages for his loss. If in such a case the testimony is conflicting as to whether the right had been terminated by notice to quit before the property was taken, the case is for the jury.</p> <p>Evidence — Writings—Duplicates.</p> <p>Where an exact carbon copy of an original paper is made on a typewriter at the same time as the original, signed by the same persons, executed in the same manner, and in every respect is an exact duplicate, -one being delivered, the other preserved, both may be considered originals, and the one preserved may be offered in evidence without notice to produce the one delivered.</p> <p>Eminent domain — Condemnation of quarry — Damages—Measure of damages.</p> <p>In a proceeding to assess damages for the loss of a quarry condemned for public use, the measure of damages is the actual value of the stone in place, not the prospective and speculative value of that stone when cut and sold in the market. Any stone actually severed- from the ledge is personal property, and the measure of damages as to it, is its value at the place where appropriated.</p>