19 Ga. App. 21 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1916
1. The refusal to strike an answer on motion, or the overruling of a demurrer, can not properly be assigned as error in a motion for a new trial. Willbanks v. Untriner, 98 Ga. 801 (25 S. E. 841) ; Mitchell v. Masury, 132 Ga. 360 (9), 361 (64 S. E. 275) ; Eldorado Jewelry Co. v. Hitchcock, 136 Ga. 22 (70 S. E. 658) ; Kelly v. Malone, 5 Ga. App. 618 (63 S. E. 639); Rodgers v. Hill-Williamson Co., 11 Ga. App. 133 (74 S. E. 899). There being no appropriate exception to the overruling of the demurrer to the answer, the question of the correctness of the court’s ruling in this particular is not before this court for determination.
2. Hearsay evidence is generally not admissible, but such evidence is admissible as to the market value of an article. The value or market price of an article may be shown by either direct or circumstantial evidence, or both (Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co. v. Harris, 1 6a. App. 667, 57 S. E. 1030; Landrum v. Swann, 8 Ga. App. 209, 68 S. E. 862), and it is no objection to the evidence of a witness testifying as to the / market value of something that such evidence rests on hearsay. 1 Wharton on Evidence, § 449; Landrum v. Swann, supra.
3. There was no error in the admission in evidence of the night-telegram. 'This telegram, in connection with the other correspondence in the case, tended to show a valid contract made between the plaintiff and the defendant, and was admissible for what it was worth.
4. The written correspondence in the case, including the signed memorandum of the sale and its terms, given to Brooke & Company, the defendants in the court below, and signed by Branan-Seignious Company, was sufficient to take the contract out of the statute of frauds. The evi
5. The act of an agent in selling an article for his principal may be ratified by the principal, even if the agent was unauthorized in the first place to make the sale, and such ratification may be implied from the acts or the silence of the principal. Civil Code, § 3591. Where a principal is informed by his agent of what he has done, the principal must express his dissatisfaction within a reasonable time, otherwise his assent-to his agent’s acts will be presumed. Carnes v. Bleecker, 12 Johns. (N. Y.) 300; Foster v. Rockwell, 104 Mass. 170. Ratification will be inferred where the agent has notified the principal by letter of his act and the principal has not repudiated it. Unless the principal repudiates the act promptly or within a reasonable time, a ratification will be presumed. Bray v. Gunn, 53 Ga. 144; Owsley v. Woolhopter, 14 Ga. 124; Mapp v. Phillips, 32 Ga. 72; Smith v. Holbrook, 99 Ga. 256 (25 S. E. 627) ; Whitley v. James, 121 Ga. 521 (49 S. E. 600). Under the facts of this case, even if Branan-Seignious Company were unauthorized to make the sale to Brooke & Company for Cunningham Brothers, the lat
6. This was the second trial of the case, judgment having been rendered twice, by the trial 'judge sitting without the intervention of a jury, in favor of the defendants, Brooke & Company, against the plaintiff's, Cunningham Brothers, for the sum of $57, and costs, as a set-off against the demand of the plaintiffs. The judgment was authorized by the evidence; no error of law appears, and the appellate division of the municipal court of Atlanta (Eulton section) erred in granting the motion for a new trial. Judgment reversed.