Myers v. Kingston Coal Co.

Citations

• 126 Pa. 582
• 24 W.N.C. 223
• 17 A. 891
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 916

Syllabus

<p>1. Where, upon the whole case, a trial judge conceives it to be his duty to give the jury binding instructions, the answers to points become mere dissertations on the law, useless to the jury, burdensome to the judge, and complicating to the record, and the better practice is to decline the answers as unnecessary.</p> <p>2. The conclusive effect of a former adjudication depends, hot upon the identity of the evidence adduced, or of the arguments presented, but upon the identity of, the rights involved; and a point which might have been made upon the former trial, is concluded by the judgment therein, whether actually made or not.</p> <p>3. The constitutionality of a special act authorizing a lease of a minor’s coal-lands, and the regularity of the execution of the lease under it, is immaterial, when the minor, with full knowledge of what had been done in his name, for many years after his majority ratified and confirmed the lease by a continuous reception of the rents accruing under it.</p> <p>4. A lease of coal-lands upon a fixed royalty payable by the lessee whether a certain quantity of coal per annum be mined or not, for a certain period “ and for such other and longer time as the lessee shall continue to pay the rent, as named in this instrument,” is not invalid by reason of uncertainty in the term.</p> <p>5. Counsel may call for a statement of the purpose for -which a paper is offered in evidence, but how formally, or in how much detail, the purpose must bo stated, is a matter within the discretion of the trial judge: unlike a witness offered, a paper may be self-explanatory, and of itself apply directly to the issue involved.</p>