Rowland Lumber Co. v. Ross

Citations

• 100 Va. 275
• 40 S.E. 922
• 1902 Va. LEXIS 25

Syllabus

<p>1. Contracts&emdash;Breach.&emdash;A party to a contract has the power to violate the contract, and for such violation courts of law can only award compensatory damages, but he has no right to violate it. The violation is not a contractual right.</p> <p>2. Principal and Agent&emdash;Acts of Unauthorized Agent&emdash;Estoppel&emdash;Case at Bar.&emdash;In the absence of acquiescence or ratification, a principal is not estopped to deny the unauthorized acts of an agent whom he has not held out to the other party to an alleged contract, or to the world, as having the authority claimed. In the case at bar there was a valid written contract between two principals, and the evi-dence fails to show authority in the agent of one of them who was superintending the execution of the contract to modify that con-. tract, or that his principal held him out as having such authority, or that such principal had any knowledge of the alleged modifica-tion, or that he has since acquiesced in or ratified the unauthorized acts or declaration of the agent, if any such there were, and hence the principal is not bound by the alleged modification.</p> <p>3. Pleading&emdash;Verdicts&emdash;Motion to Set Aside&emdash;Excessive Damages.&emdash;A mo-tion to set aside a verdict because contrary to the evidence should be granted where the damages allowed by the verdict are substan-tially in excess of the amount warranted by the evidence, although the motion does not in terms ask that the verdict be set aside be-cause the damages allowed are too large.</p>