Metropolitan Coal Co. v. Boutell Transportation & Towing Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract for breach of an alleged agreement for the charter of a tug and coal barges. Writ dated December 26, 1899. In the Superior Court the case was tried before Mason, C. J., without a jury. The correspondence relied on by the plaintiff as constituting the contract sued upon was as follows: “ Boston, Sept. 26, 1899. Messrs. Walter, Friend & Co., Boston, Mass.
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Contract for breach of an alleged agreement for the charter of a tug and coal barges. Writ dated December 26, 1899. In the Superior Court the case was tried before Mason, C. J., without a jury. The correspondence relied on by the plaintiff as constituting the contract sued upon was as follows: “ Boston, Sept. 26, 1899. Messrs. Walter, Friend & Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sirs, — We will agree to furnish four or five barges that will insure cargoes at a satisfactory rate and carry not less than 8000 tons of coal and a first class tug boat of not less than 1000 H. P. to tow these or other barges,…
1Opinion of the CourtBraley, J.
If it be assumed that the plaintiff succeeded in establishing the fact that William H. Mack was the general *394agent of the defendant and as such had authority to make an agreement by which it would be bound, the more important and decisive question between the parties remains to be decided, and that is whether the evidence was sufficient as a matter of law to prove the contract set out in the declaration.
The contract, if any, was made by an offer and reply in writing, and the only variance is the time referred to in each, when the agreement was to take effect, and the defendant was to become…
2Cases cited12 opinions
- Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway v. Columbus Rolling MillSupreme Court of the United States · 1886
- Orr v. HodgsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1819
- Rogers v. Rogers & BrotherMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1885
- Lincoln v. GayMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- Stoddard v. HamMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
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- Harris v. North American InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1906
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