Langley v. Owens

Citations

• 52 Fla. 302

Syllabus

<p>1. Where there Is no dispute as to the character or device used in the execution of a written instrument, it is for the court to determine whether the device as used constitutes a seal.</p> <p>2. Under the statute providing “that a scrawl or scroll; printed or written, affixed as a seal to any written instrument, shall be effectual as a seal,” a scrawl or scroll affixed as a seal to the signature of the maker of a promissory note is effectual as a seal, and when such scrawl or scroll, printed or written, appears affixed to the maker’s signature in the place usually occupied by the seal, it is, in the absence of anything in the note showing a contrary intention and in the absence of fraud, sufficient to give it effect 'as a seal.</p> <p>3. When the letters “L. S.,” enclosed within parentheses, thus (L. S.) appear opposite the signature of the maker of a promissory note in the usual place for the seal but with no reference to it in the body of the instrument, whether written or printed, it is evidence of a purpose to malee a sealed instrument.</p> <p>4. The character or device (L. S.) printed or written appearing in the usual place for the seal opposite the signature of . the maker of a note is not ambiguous, since it' has a definite legal meaning and effect when so used; and such character or device does not merely indicate the place where the seal should be put, since when it is so used the statute makes it effective as a seal, and such a character or device is a scrawl scroll affixed as a seal within the meaning of the statute.</p> <p>5. When a written instrument is complete within itself and is not ambiguous or uncertain in its meaning, the intention of the maker and the legal effect of the terms used in the instrument should be determined by the court from an inspection of the instrument itself; and a plea averring that the intention of the maker differs from the legal enect of the terms used in executing the written instrument i^ demurrable.</p> <p>6. When wo