Ewing v. Musser

Citations

• 42 Pa. Super. 177
• 1910 Pa. Super. LEXIS 311

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Sale—Passing of title — Payment—Trover—Conversion.</p> <p>1. Where a sale of chattels is made without any expressed agreement as to the time of payment the presumption is that the parties dealt on a cash basis and no title passes to the vendee until the price has been paid, unless there has been an actual delivery without payment. And even where there has been a delivery, if such delivery is madé with the belief that payment is to be made at once and the vendee fails to p.ay, the vendor may reclaim his property if he take immediate steps so to do.</p> <p>2. Where cattle are sent to a distant point on a telegraphic order, directing the seller to draw on the buyer for the price, and nothing further is said about payment, and when the cattle arrive at their destination they are sold at the stock yards by the agent of the purchaser in the latter’s absence, and without his knowledge or the knowledge of the seller, and in accordance with an alleged custom of the yard of which the seller had no notice, the agent cannot retain the purchase money of the cattle, if it appears that the seller promptly drew upon the agent for the money, and that the draft was dishonored. In such a case the act of the agent constituted a conversion of the cattle for which he would be liable to the seller in an action of trespass.</p>