81 So. 567 | Ala. | 1919
A broker is entitled to his commission, when he produces to his principal a customer, ready, willing, and able to buy on the terms provided by such principal, within the period allowed, or if the time is not limited before the revocation of the agency. Handley v. Schaffer,
"The theory of the law is that when the broker has brought the minds of the buyer and seller to an agreement upon all the terms of sale, and the buyer is able, ready, and willing to buy, this is a constructive consummation of the sale, so far as the broker is concerned, because he has done all that he was required to do." Sayre v. Wilson, supra.
Here, according to the plaintiff's evidence, which seems to have been accepted by the jury, they had closed a trade with the G. F. A. R. R. for 10,000 tons of coal covering a year by weekly delivery at the price authorized, and nothing further remained for them to do. The sale was sufficiently definite and in pursuance of the authority given by the defendant to the plaintiffs, as per the testimony of Rust. The defendant claims that the purchaser was to supply equipment for moving the coal, and that this was a condition precedent. This was denied by Rust, and if this was not a condition precedent to the authority to sell or find a purchaser it was not necessary for the plaintiffs to have provided for same in their negotiations with the buyer, for the failure to provide for this in the offer or contract of sale did not render the same so indefinite as to render the transaction invalid, for in the absence of such a stipulation the law would determine whose duty it was to furnish or procure the equipment for moving the coal, which would be a question between the buyer and seller and with which the broker would not be concerned. If this stipulation was not embodied in their authority to sell, then the brokers did not have to provide for or against same in their negotiations with customers, as the sale would be subject to the law of usage and custom in this respect.
As above noted, when these plaintiffs brought the mind of the buyer and seller to an agreement upon the terms of sale, and the buyer is able, ready, and willing to buy, this was a constructive consummation of the sale so far as the plaintiffs were concerned, because they had done all they were required to do. There being nothing left for the plaintiffs to do, and as between them and the defendant nothing for it to do other than pay the plaintiffs their commission, the plaintiffs could maintain an action on the common counts and introduce the agreement as evidence of the value of their service. Stafford v. Sibley,
The case of Cronin v. American Co.,
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
MAYFIELD, SOMERVILLE, and THOMAS, JJ., concur.