177 Pa. 233 | Pa. | 1896
Opinion by
The defendant is an incorporated building and loan association, duly incorporated by the laws of New York, and located and transacting business at Syracuse in that state. The plaintiff, in October, 1891, made application to become a member of the association by purchasing two shares of its stock, and in November following received a certificate for the shares. In
It is only necessary to examine briefly the contract of the par
“Williamsport Jan. 2nd, 1893.
“ Joseph C. Bennett.”
When he gave his bond for the money loaned he. obligated himself as follows : “I, Joseph C. Bennett am held and firmly bound unto the Eastern Building and Loan Association of Syracuse N. Y. in the sum of four hundred dollars, lawful money of the United States of America, to be paid to said Eastern Building & Loan Association of Syracuse, N. Y.” etc. In the condition of the bond it is provided that if he pays to the association, repeating its name and place, $207.89 in sixty seven equal payments of $3.17 each, except three of $1.67
Thus it will be seen that in every possible way in which the English language could express it, the plaintiff entered into a written contract with the defendant to pay it, in sixty-seven different payments, every one of which was to be made at the office of the defendant in Syracuse, New York, a designated aggregate sum of money. What is the use of discussing the question whether this was a contract to pay money in the state of New York ? What is there to discuss ? Nothing. No other place of payment is mentioned or can possibly be implied. This one place is positively expressed over and over again, and many times over, in solemn instrument signed and sealed by the plaintiff himself, and in sixty-seven different notes also signed by the plaintiff. It is a waste of time to discuss so plain a matter. The fact that the plaintiff lived in Pennsylvania and negotiated there with an agent of the defendant either for the membership or for the loan, is not of the slightest significance. The contract must be adjudged by its express terms no matter where the parties were when it was made. And when those terms are clear, explicit, involved in no doubt whatever, they must prevail, and it is the duty of the courts to enforce them according to their literal meaning. Nor is there the slightest ground for an allegation that the contract was made for the purpose of evading the usury laws of Pennsylvania. Who had such a purpose and what is the' evidence of it ? Did the plaintiff have it, and if so, did he communicate it to the defendant ? If so, where is the evidence of it ? There is none whatever. The defendant’s business was transacted at its proper place of business in the state of New York. This business was a part of its regular business done in its usual way, and as a matter of course, the mere fact that this loan was made to a
Judgment affirmed.