Keystone Surgical Supply Co. v. Bate

Citations

• 196 Pa. 566
• 46 A. 887
• 1900 Pa. LEXIS 558

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Preliminary dealings — Written contract — Evidence — Presumption.</p> <p>Where parties to an offer and acceptance show either by express words, or by their action that they regard the arrangement as preliminary only, and to be put into final shape thereafter, and subsequently they execute a formal instrument in writing, the latter is the only contract, and the preliminary steps, however elaborate, go into the category of mere negotiations leading up to the final result. This is always the presumption of the law where a written conLraet is made.</p> <p>Where a person submits the substance of an agreement to the directors of a corporation, and the directors notify the party of the acceptance of the proposal, and subsequently a written contract is executed embodying some provisions that were not in the proposal or the acceptance, the written contract will be presumed to be the real contract between the parties.</p> <p>Contract — Building contract — Dispossession of owner by contractor.</p> <p>A building contractor, even though the contract time for the delivery of the building had not arrived, has no authority to dispossess the owner of his premises, or to interfere with his possession further than is necessary to enable the contractor to complete his work; and this is the case although the owner may have been guilty of a breach of a covenant in the contract.</p>