91 Vt. 472 | Vt. | 1917
This plaintiff seeks to recover a commission on the sale of the soft-wood timber on a 12,000-aere tract of land in Bennington County called the Manchester Slope. A verdict was ordered for the defendants and the case comes here on plaintiff’s exceptions thereto. So far as here need be stated, the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, fairly and reasonably tended to show the following facts:
The action of the court below in granting the defendant’s motion for a verdict was predicated upon the view that the letters from Blandin to the plaintiff above referred to amounted to a valid revocation of the plaintiff’s authority, and inasmuch as he had not then earned his commission by completing a sale, he could recover nothing.
But the question of revocation was not properly in the case. The defence stood upon the general issue, alone. The doctrine of revocation implies that a valid contract of agency has been entered into, but has, prior to its performance by the agent,
Moreover, even if the plaintiff had waived this point, it would not save the ease. The burden of proof on the question of revocation was on the defendant. Bourke v. Van Keuren, 20 Colo. 95, 36 Pac. 882; Clements v. Stapleton, 136 Iowa 137, 113 N. W. 546; Hartford v. McGillicuddy, 103 Me. 224, 68 Atl. 860, 16 L. R. A. (N. S.) 431, 12 Ann. Cas. 1083. And one of the essential elements of a valid revocation is the good faith of the principal. 4 R. C. L. 254; Branch v. Moore, 84 Ark. 462, 105 S. W. 1178, 120 Am. St. Rep. 78; Handley v. Shaffer, 177 Ala. 636, 59 South. 286. Anti see other cases collected in note to Alexander v. Sherwood Co., (W. Va.) 49 L. R. A. (N. S.) at page 987. This was a question of fact, and should have been submitted to the jury. Coolidge v. Ayers, 76 Vt. 405, 57 Atl. 970; Woodward v. Blanchard, 16 Ill. 430.
It is not claimed that the agency of the plaintiff was terminated in any other way than by the letters, so we seek no further for a revocation.
No objection was made below to the form of the defendants’ motion, and in view of this fact and the result reached we have deemed it best to treat it as sufficient.
Reversed and remanded.