Lynch v. Versailles Fuel Gas Co.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Appeal, No. 197, Oct. T., 1894, by defendant, from judgment of C. P. No. 3, Allegheny County, Nov. T., 1892, No. 547, on verdict for plaintiff. Ejectment. Before Me Clung, J. At the trial it appeared that, on Aug. 21, 1886, John Lynch executed an oil lease to T. J. Vandergrift covering the land in question. This lease became by sundry assignments vested in defendant. John Lynch died in 1891, having devised the land to plaintiff.
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Appeal, No. 197, Oct. T., 1894, by defendant, from judgment of C. P. No. 3, Allegheny County, Nov. T., 1892, No. 547, on verdict for plaintiff. Ejectment. Before Me Clung, J. At the trial it appeared that, on Aug. 21, 1886, John Lynch executed an oil lease to T. J. Vandergrift covering the land in question. This lease became by sundry assignments vested in defendant. John Lynch died in 1891, having devised the land to plaintiff. The lease provided that if oil was found, Lynch was to get one-eighth; “and should gas be found in sufficient quantities to justify the party of the second part in…
1Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Mb. Justice Mitchell,
There is a wide distinction even in equity between forfeitures for failure of punctual payment of money where time is of the essence of the contract and where it is not. If parties choose to stipulate for matters as essential, it is not for courts to say they are not so, but in the absence of a clear agreement for materiality courts will look into the nature of the transaction, and be governed by the real bearing of the facts upon the intentions and rights of the parties. Hence it is a settled general rule that where time is not stipulated as essential and a…
2Cases cited1 opinion
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- Barraclough v. Atlantic Refining Co.Superior Court of Pennsylvania · 1974
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