Penn v. Hare

(after stating the facts as above). It is insisted that when considered, as it should have been, with reference to its language and the circumstances shown by the testimony, the meaning of the contract was doubtful; that the trial court therefore should have had the jury to determine its meaning, and hence erred when, construing it himself, he peremptorily instructed the jury as he did. The contention is overruled. The contract was in writing, and the doubt as to its meaning arose from the-language the parties used, and not from extrinsic matters. In such a case the law seems to be well…