Matthews v. William Frank Brewing Co.

Taking the most favorable view of the plaintiff’s case, and assuming for present purposes that the understanding had December 16, 1897, amounted to a contract by the defendant to supply the plaintiff all the beer required in his saloon business, for one year thereafter, at $8 a barrel, we will next inquire what legal results follow. In June, 1898, the War Revenue Act became a law, and by it a tax of $2 a barrel was imposed on all beer, etc., brewed and sold, whereupon the defendant, a brewing corporation, refused to deliver any more beer under the contract, unless the plaintiff paid $1 a…