Rissmiller v. Evangelical Lutheran Congregation

Citations

• 268 Pa. 41
• 110 A. 740
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 626

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Consent of parties — Building committee — Agency-Authority — Knowledge—Agreement to award bid for erection of church.</p> <p>1. Contracts are derived from consent, and cannot, as a rule, be binding where there is no real consent established.</p> <p>2. Where two church congregations agree to build a church in common, and appoint a building committee for that purpose, and the committee authorize two of its members to invite five selected contractors to hid and to give to each a copy of the plans and specifications, the lowest bidder has no right of action against the two churches because his bid was rejected, where he shows that the two individual members had .agreed with him that the contract would be let to the lowest bidder, and that it was only on this understanding that he became a bidder, without any proof that the individual members had any authority to make such an agreement, or that the committee had any knowledge that such an agreement had in fact been made.</p> <p>Jury — Challenges—Cause—Membership in religious denomination.</p> <p>3. In an action against two affiliated churches to recover damages for alleged breach of contract, jurors are not disqualified merely because they are members of other church congregations affiliated or associated with one or other of the general denominations with which the two defendant churches are associated.</p> <p>Appeals — Review—Judgment—Reasons for judgment.</p> <p>4. Appellate courts do not review reasons for judgments, hut fho judgments themselves. A wrong reason for a right judgment is no ground for reversal.</p>