[DOWNLOAD] "Mason v. Madson" by Supreme Court of Montana " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mason v. Madson
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 22, 1931
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
Contracts ? Sale of Livestock ? Fraud ? Actions ? Money Had and Received ? Rescission ? Failure to Plead or Prove Damage Destroys Right of Action ? Courts Function for Protection of Substantial Rights Only ? De Minimis Non Curat Lex. Action for Money Had and Received, Governed by Equitable Principles ? Where Purpose of Action Rescission of Contract Court may Grant Equitable Relief ? Distinction Between Forms of Action Abolished. 1. An action for money had and received is governed by equitable principles, and where its purpose is in effect to enforce a rescission of a contract and a return of the consideration, the court may administer equitable relief, regardless of the question whether under the procedure prior to the abolition of distinction between forms of action, the action could have been maintained in the form in which it was brought. Contracts ? Cancellation or Rescission of Executed Contract for Fraud ? When Only Relief to be Granted. 2. Cancellation or rescission of an executed contract should not be ordered except in a clear case and never for alleged fraud unless the fraud be made clearly to appear; never for alleged false representations unless their falsity is clearly proved and the plaintiff has been deceived and injured by them. Courts ? Powers to be Invoked Only for Protection of Substantial Rights ? Wrong not Producing Injury not Remediable. 3. Courts, whether of law or of equity, do not concern themselves with wrongs which do not produce injury; they do not sit for the - Page 490 purpose of enforcing moral obligations or correcting unconscionable acts not followed by loss or damage, but their power may only be invoked for the protection of substantial rights, the doctrine of de minimis non curat lex applying. Actions ? Fraud Without Damage not Ground for Action. 4. Fraud not resulting in damage affords no ground for action. Contracts ? Sale of Livestock ? Substitution of Animals by Seller ? Rescission ? Failure of Plaintiff to Plead or Prove Damage ? Directed Verdict for Defendant Proper. 5. Plaintiff entered into a contract with defendant for delivery to him, at a given time, of 225 lambs of his crop of the then year; finding himself unable to deliver that number defendant purchased a sufficient number of similar lambs from a neighbor to make up the deficiency and delivered them to plaintiff, the substituted lambs being so nearly like those raised by defendant that the purchaser could not distinguish them from the others. On discovery of the substitution plaintiff rescinded the agreement and, defendant refusing to repay the purchase price, brought action to recover it on the ground of fraud. He did not plead nor prove any damage or injury suffered. Held, under the above rules, that plaintiff, not having suffered any injury, was not entitled to maintain an action for money had and received, the purpose of which was to rescind the contract of sale after execution. (MR. JUSTICE ANGSTMAN dissenting.)