Hale v. Trout

Citations

• 35 Cal. 229

Syllabus

<p>Suit for Breach of Contract.—A. and B. enter into a contract, by which A. is to manufacture for B. a given amount of lumber by a given time, for which B. is to pay a fixed price per thousand, payable at the end of each month, and B.r without fault on A.’s part, refuses to pay for lumber sawed and received, and to receive any more lumber, and declares the contract at an end: Held, that A. may treat the contract as wholly broken by B., and sue to recover the contract price for the lumber delivered, and upon the breach to recover the entire damages resulting from the breach of the contract, without waiting for the time of performance to elapse.</p> <p>Rule of Damages for Breach of Contract.—When a party who contracts with another to make lumber for him, and to pay him a fixed sum therefor monthly, as the lumber is made, breaks the contract, without any fault on the other’s part, the rule of damages for the breach is the difference between the cost of making* the lumber and the contract price.</p> <p>Breach of Contract.—If one contracts to make merchantable lumber for another, and the other takes away unmerchantable lumber, contrary to the wish and orders of the maker, this is not a breach of the contract on the part of the manufacturer.</p> <p>Construction of Contract.—Where A. contracted with B. to make for him at his mill two million feet of lumber, and commence before July 20th, 1866, and make from fifty to eighty thousand feet per month, and to deliver on or before January 1st, 1867, at least three hundred thousand feet; and to commence on or before May 20th, 1867, and deliver from eighty to one hundred and fifty thousand feet per month, until one half of what is not delivered is sawed and delivered; and to commence on or before May 20th, 1868, and saw and deliver at least eighty and not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand feet per month, until the two million feet was delivered: Held, that the true construction of the contract is, to deliver three hundred