Wilson v. Marlow

Citations

• 66 Ill. 385

Syllabus

<p>1. Contracts—rule of constrtiction. It is a cardinal principle in construing contracts that they must have a reasonable interpretation according to the intention of the parties executing them, if the intention can be gathered from the language used. In giving a construction to a contract, the question is, what, by a fair and reasonable interpretation of the words and acts of the parties, was the bargain between them.</p> <p>2. Same—implied covenant. Where a contract under seal recited the assignment of the plaintiff’s interest in a certain patent right to the defendants. in consideration of which the defendants covenanted to allow the plaintiff an interest in a certain part of the business, both in the sale of rights and manufacturing, to the extent of five per cent on the net profits arising from the inventions until he should receive §5000 therefrom, and two and a half per cent from that time forward, so long as the defendants retained any interest therein: Held, that this amounted to an implied covenant that the business should be carried on, if it could be made sufficiently profitable to justify its prosecution, and for a breach of which the defendants were liable.</p>