Oliver v. Forrester

Citations

• 96 Ill. 315
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 36

Syllabus

<p>1. Partnership—effect of death of one partner—power and duties of surviving partners. Where one partner in two firms dies, that terminates the existence of both firms, and the surviving partners of neither firm have any power to continue the business of the partnership, but they are required by law to wind up and close the same, and after paying the partnership debts, to distribute the assets among the surviving members and the representatives of the deceased partner.</p> <p>2. The death of one partner not only terminates the partnership, but also all unexecuted portions of the partnership agreements, and the survivors have no authority to proceed to carry them out and execute their provisions, and consequently they can not lawfully execute any verbal agreement among the members relating entirely to the partnership business which is dependent on the continuance of the firm.</p> <p>3. So, where A and B were partners as lumber merchants in the city of Chicago, and A, B and C were partners in the manufacture of lumber in the State of Michigan, and an agreement was entered into between the two firms that the latter,firm was to buy logs, and manufacture lumber and ship the same to the lumber yard of the former, to be by them sold, they guaranteeing to A, B and C the cargo price of the lumber, and the profits on the sales to be equally divided between the two firms, and A died, it was held that this verbal agreement was terminated, and that if B, the surviving partner of the Chicago firm, received any further shipments of lumber under such agreement, or purchased other lumber, after A’s death, which was lost by fire, A’s estate was not chargeable with any part of the loss.</p> <p>4. If a surviving partner is required to execute contracts entered into by the firm before the death of a member thereof, it is only so as to contracts entered into with persons not members of the firm, and not in respect to contracts made between the several members of the firm as to the mode