Warren v. Stoddart
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to tbe Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. Joseph M. Stoddart was a book publisher, carrying on business in the city of Philadelphia, under the name of J. M. Stoddart & Co. In 1878 he undertook to reprint and sell in the United States a new edition, consisting of twénty-one volumes, of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which A. & C. Black, of Edinburgh, Scotland, were then bringing out.
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Error to tbe Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. Joseph M. Stoddart was a book publisher, carrying on business in the city of Philadelphia, under the name of J. M. Stoddart & Co. In 1878 he undertook to reprint and sell in the United States a new edition, consisting of twénty-one volumes, of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which A. & C. Black, of Edinburgh, Scotland, were then bringing out. His plan was to sell the work by subscription only; the subscriptions were to be obtained by. .agents and canvassers, to whom ’certain territory was to be allotted.' It…
1Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Woods,
after stating tbe case, delivered tbe opinion of tbe court.
The only question in the case is whether or not tbe instruction of tbe court to the jury, to the effect that, on tbe facts, the plaintiff in error was entitled to no damages, is correct. This will depend upon the construction which is to be put on the contract between Stoddart and Warren, of Feb. 24, 1877.
The- contract is indefinite as to the time during which it was to continue'in force. It is probable that the parties supposed the contract would continue until the twenty-one volumes were published, or at least-…
2Cases cited3 opinions
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- Miller v. Trustees of the Mariner's ChurchSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1830
- United States v. BurnhamU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts · 1816
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- Junerous Cook v. City of ChicagoCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1999
- Watts v. CamorsSupreme Court of the United States · 1885
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