Rice v. Lake Township

Citations

• 40 Pa. Super. 337
• 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 618

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Evidence—Oral agreement — Question far jury.</p> <p>1. In an action on a contract where all the evidence as to the agreement is oral, the case must be submitted to the juryj although the evidence may not be conflicting, or in any way contradictory. In such a case plaintiff’s right to recover must be submitted to the jury because the burden of proof which the law casts upon him has not been discharged until the credibility of his witnesses has been passed upon by that tribunal.</p> <p>Townships — Township supervisors — Contract — Purchase of road scraper.</p> <p>2. In an action against a township to recover the price of a road scraper, it is error to give binding instructions for the plaintiff where there was no evidence to show that the supervisors had consulted and deliberated as to the material elements of the contract, and it appears that they had kept no minute of their meeting, or of the making of the contract.</p> <p>3. In such a case ratification of the contract by the township cannot be established by proof that later supervisors who had no knowledge of the agreement, had used the machine, had made inquiries as to a note that had been given to secure the purchase money, and that the township auditors had reported such a note as an outstanding debt of the defendant township.</p> <p>4. It is doubtless true that a township, like every other member of a civilized society, should be required to pay its honest debts, but township officers act, not for themselves, but for the whole body of taxpayers. It is of the first importance that those who undertake to deal with such officers should not, in their eagerness to deal, allow themselves to become blinded to the fact that the public safety requires that those who deal with such officers, with the expectation of binding the municipality they represent, must see to it that the officers act within the scope of their authority and comply with the requirements prescribed by the law in order that their acts