Rigdon v. Conley

Citations

• 141 Ill. 565
• 30 N.E. 1060

Syllabus

<p>1. Contract—signed by one party—when binding on both. Where a contract, after its execution by one party, is accepted by the other, it becomes binding on both, though not executed by the other.</p> <p>2. Same— construed according to its terms—immaterial elements. Where the purchaser of property, in addition to a cash payment, is by the contract to place to the credit of the seller the balance of the price upon the books of a firm of which the buyer is a member, which credit is so entered, in an action by the seller against the buyer for the balance of the price it is wholly immaterial what amount of capital had been put into the firm by the parties composing the same, or how much money the buyer had in the firm at the time of the sale.</p> <p>3. In such case, all the purchaser has to do to comply with his contract is to place to the credit of the vendor on the books of his firm the sum agreed upon. When this is done, whether he has much or little money with the firm will have no bearing on the question of his liability to the vendor.</p> <p>4. Where A agrees to place to the credit of B a certain amount at a certain bank, it can make no difference to B how A obtains the credit, providing B receives a bona fide credit which is available in the usual course of business.</p> <p>5. Same—understanding of parties—must be determined from the language used. What the parties to a written contract may have understood as to the meaning of the language employed is not admissible in evidence. The intention or understanding of the parties, when there is a written contract in existence, must be determined, not from what the parties thought, but from the language of the contract itself.</p> <p>6. Practice—order for the production of books. A defendant asked for an order on the plaintiff to produce the books of the firm of which plaintiff was a member, to enable defendant to prepare for trial. On the hearing of the motion, defendant’s counsel admitted that he only-wished to examin