Milton v. Burton

Citations

• 79 Fla. 266
• 84 So. 147

Syllabus

<p>1. The “parol evidence rule” is a rule of substantive law because it deals with the question of where and in what sources and materials are to be found the/ terms of a legal act</p> <p>2. When a legal act is reduced into a single memorial, all other utterances of the parties on that topic are legally immaterial for the purpose of determining what are the terms of their act, and; the interest of the parties is the controlling consideration in determining whether a particular memorial should be deemed to embody the legal act covering a certain subject of negotiation.</p> <p>3. Where it appears that the particular element of an alleged extrinsic negotiation is not dealt with at all in the writing, it is presumed that the writing was not meant to represent all of the transaction on that element and parol evidence in proof of such element should be received; especially when the writing affirmatively shows that it was not intended to embody all of the transaction.</p> <p>4. A written contract whereby a general agent of a life insurance company employed a sub-agent, failed to state under what circumstances notes might be accepted for the amount of the first premium on policies sold, but expressly stated that the sub-agent’s duties were to obey the rules, instructions and regulations of the general agent in addition to the - duties enumerated in the writing; it was therefore competent for the parties, at or before the execution of the writing, to agree that the sub-agent might accept notes for the first annual premium on policies sold by him, but that he should be liable for the portion of- such premium due the company, and oral testimony of such agreement was admissible.</p>