Eaton v. Mayo
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract upon an alleged guaranty contained in the following letter delivered to the plaintiffs, dated Gloucester, May 5, 1870, and signed by the defendant: “ Messrs. Eaton, Wellington & Co. Let C. S. Mayo have what goods he may want on four months, and he will pay as usual.”
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Contract upon an alleged guaranty contained in the following letter delivered to the plaintiffs, dated Gloucester, May 5, 1870, and signed by the defendant: “ Messrs. Eaton, Wellington & Co. Let C. S. Mayo have what goods he may want on four months, and he will pay as usual.” At the trial in the Superior Court, before Dewey, J,, a clerk of the plaintiffs testified that about May 5, C. S. Mayo called and selected a bill of goods at the plaintiffs’ store in Boston; that they were not then delivered to him ; that he declined to sell him the goods unless he brought a guaranty ; that on May 7, he…
1Opinion of the CourtColt, J.
No rules of interpretation applied to the writing de dared on will make the defendant liable as guarantor. The letter contains no words which can be construed into a promise by the *143defendant to be responsible in any contingency for the debt of his brother. There is no ambiguity of meaning, and therefore no occasion to resort to the surrounding circumstances or the relations of the parties to ascertain the intent. At most, the writing is but an expression of confidence on the part of the defendant that his brother would himself pay for the goods he was about to purchase. Clarke v. Russel, 3…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Russell v. Clark's ExecutorsSupreme Court of the United States · 1812
- Clarke v. RusselSupreme Court of the United States · 1799
3Cited by5 opinions
- Fain Grocery Co. v. Early & Daniels Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1921
- Goldring v. ThompsonSupreme Court of Florida · 1909
- Kenneweg Co. v. FinneyCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1903
- Mahler Textiles, Inc. v. WoodkaAppellate Court of Illinois · 1929
- Heathcote v. Curtis Publishing Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1918