Boden v. Maher
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Appeal from a judgment of the circuit court for Milwaukee county: JaMes O’Neill, Judge. Action to recover on a contract made May 17, 1892, between defendants as the first parties and Henry Gerling as the second party, whereby the second party agreed as follows: “ To do ail excavating which said parties of the first part desire to have done on certain premises known as Sobieski Park and the continuation of Sobieski Park, in the Twelfth ward of the city of Milwaukee,” under…
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Appeal from a judgment of the circuit court for Milwaukee county: JaMes O’Neill, Judge. Action to recover on a contract made May 17, 1892, between defendants as the first parties and Henry Gerling as the second party, whereby the second party agreed as follows: “ To do ail excavating which said parties of the first part desire to have done on certain premises known as Sobieski Park and the continuation of Sobieski Park, in the Twelfth ward of the city of Milwaukee,” under the direction of the assistant city engineer and said first parties, for thirteen and three-eighths cents per cubic yard…
1Opinion of the CourtMarshall, J.
The refusal to permit defendants to prove-the circumstances under which the contract was made, in order to enable the court to rightly construe it, was error. Parol evidence to vary the terms of a written contract is-one thing; such evidence to enable the court to say what the parties to a contract intended to express by the language adopted in making it, is quite another thing. The former is not permissible. Steele v. Schricker, 55 Wis. 134. The latter is permissible and is often absolutely essential to show the real nature of the agreement. Sigerson v. Cushing, 14 Wis. 527; Lyman v.…
2Cases cited11 opinions
- Nash v. TowneSupreme Court of the United States · 1867
- Merriam v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- Stewart Howell v. . KeteltasNew York Court of Appeals · 1867
- Nilson v. MorseWisconsin Supreme Court · 1881
- Lyman v. BabcockWisconsin Supreme Court · 1876
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