Prigg v. Preston

Citations

• 28 Pa. Super. 272
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 183

Syllabus

<p>Evidence — Custom—Locality—Time and extent of custom — Knowledge of custom — Oil and gas lease.</p> <p>In order to establish the existence of a custom in an oil producing country permitting a lessee under an oil lease to erect on the land described in the lease a dwelling for the occupancy of his employees, it must be shown what oil producing countries are meant, the time when the custom began, and to whom and where such custom was known, and whether it was known to the parties at the date of the lease.</p> <p>Before a mere usage of trade or a custom can become so firmly imbedded in the law as to govern the rights of parties, it must be so certain, uniform and notorious as probably to be known to and understood' by the parties entering into the contract.</p> <p>Where a party seeks to set up a custom which is not alleged to have existed for so long a time and so generally that it had become the recognized law of the land, it is proper to permit the opposite party to show that neither he nor other persons resident in the vicinity ever heard of the alleged custom, and that there was no such general custom in the region.</p>