Sword v. Reformed Congregation Keneseth Israel

Citations

• 29 Pa. Super. 626
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 394

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Ratification—Corporation—President.</p> <p>Ratification of a contract implies knowledge of the material facts, and to be effective must be made by persons having the power to perform the act which is the subject of -ratification. In the absence of evidence that the facts were communicated to the party, or that he 'had knowledge of them and assented to the acts alleged to have been done for him, the question of ratification should not be submitted to the jury.</p> <p>Ratification may be shown by proof of facts from which it may be lawfully presumed, but the facts must be such as are inconsistent with another hypothesis than that the person whose ratification is sought to be established approved and intended to adopt what had been done in his name. The question ought not to be submitted for the determination of the jury upon evidence which does not logically lead to the conclusion sought to be established.</p> <p>In an action against a religious corporation to recover the price of a portrait alleged to have been sold to the president of the corporation, it appeared that the president had no authority under the constitution and by-laws to purchase such a picture. The evidence showed that after the portrait was painted, it was hung for exhibition in the synagogue of the defendant. It was taken away for a time but subsequently returned. The portrait was hung in the synagogue for the accommodation of the plaintiff, and it was not until about a year after it had been placed there that the alleged sale was made. Soon after the alleged sale the president died. Plaintiff testified that he had had a conversation with the succeeding president with reference to the portrait, in which the latter said that he knew all about the' arrangements that had been made, and that he knew that the portrait was hanging in the synagogue. Held, that the evidence was insufficient to submit to the jury, to determine whether there had been any ratification of a contract for the purch