United States v. New York & Porto Rico Steamship Co.
Citations
- 239 U.S. 88
- 36 S. Ct. 41
- 60 L. Ed. 161
- 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1498
Syllabus
<p>Even if a statute declares a transaction void for want of certain enumerated forms, the party for whose protection the requirement is made may waive it; void in such cases meaning only voidable at that party’s choice.</p> <p>The object of Rev. Stat., § 3744, providing that certain officers of the Government reduce all contracts to writing, is to furnish the needed protection for the United States and not for the private individual who does not need such protection; and, notwithstanding informality of execution on the part of the Government, if the other contracting parties did actually contract, he can be held to performance.</p>
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- when government did not comply with formal requirements, contract not illegal and recovery permitted upon quantum vale- bat when performed
- when government did not comply with formal requirements, contract not illegal and recovery permitted upon quantum valebat when performed
- when government did not comply with formal requirements, contract not illegal and recovery permitted upon quantum valebat when performed
- “Even when a statute in so many words declares a transaction void for want of certain forms, the party for whose protection the requirement is made often may waive it, “void” being held to mean only voidable at the party’s choice.”
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Holmes
Read full opinion on CourtListenerSourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
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