Lassing v. James

Citations

• 107 Cal. 348
• 40 P. 534
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 758

Syllabus

<p>Contracts—Interpretation—Seemino Contradiction.—Where there are several provisions or particulars in a contract, a seeming contradiction in the particulars must be avoided, if possible, by such a construction as will give effect to all of the provisions, and allow them all to stand.</p> <p>Id.—Contract eor Pasturase op Cattle.—In a contract for the pasturage of cattle in fields of growing alfalfa, in which were situated nine stacks of hay, a provision in the contract that five dollars per ton is to be paid for each and every ton of hay fed between certain dates is only seemingly repugnant to another clause of the same contract by which the owner of the cattle agrees to pay in installments for all the hay in the nine stacks; but the second clause is simply broader, and reaches further than the first.</p> <p>Id.—Uncertainty in Contract—Oral Evidence.—Where the terms of a contract are ambiguous or uncertain it must be interpreted in the sense in which the promisor believed at the time of making it that the promisee understood it; and where, in a contract for the purchase of hay, the oral evidence shows beyond question that both parties understood that the owner of the cattle was buying all of the hay in stacks, at a certain price per ton, the contract must be so interpreted.</p> <p>Id.—Presumption Against Promisor.—In cases of uncertainty the language of a contract should be interpreted most strongly against the party who caused the uncertainty to exist, and the promisor is presumed to be such party; and, if the promisor actually prepared the contract, he is the one who caused any uncertainty to exist as to his promise, and it must therefore be interpreted most strongly against him.</p> <p>Id.—Intention of Parties to be Regarded—Disregard of Erroneous Parts of Contract.—Where the owner of the cattle prepared the written contract, and brought it to the owner of the hay to sign, which he refused to do unless a provision were inserted that the owner of the cattle shoul