240 Pa. 312 | Pa. | 1913
Opinion by
The plaintiff company brought this action in assumpsit against the defendant, Joseph T. Jackson, trading as Joseph T. Jackson & Co., to recover damages alleged to have been suffered as the result of its enforced removal from a property leased to it by the defendant. In June, 1908, Jackson, purporting to act as agent for the several owners of the Miles building, leased the fourth floor thereof to the plaintiff for a term of five years; the written lease was signed by Jackson & Co., as agent for the owners, naming them, and the lessee went into possession. In February, 1910, the owners notified the plaintiff that the defendant had no written authority to execute the lease and demanded that the lessee should vacate the premises on the thirtieth day of June, 1910. The plaintiff did not remove, but on August 29, 1910, entered into a contract with the owners whereby it agreed, in consideration of $1,000 received from the latter, to vacate on or before October 1, 1910. This writing stated, “It is distinctly understood and agreed that nothing in this agreement shall in anywise affect or
Since the lease purported to create a tenancy for more than three years and the agent was without written authority to execute it, the estate created thereby was in its inception but a tenancy at will, and as against the common owners it never became more than an estate from year to year: McDowell v. Simpson, 3 Watts 129, 136. Under the Statute of Frauds in this State, in order to ratify the lease so as to give it the force and effect of a term of five years, the rátification would have to be in writing: McDowell v. Simpson, supra; Dumn v. Rothermel, 112 Pa. 272, 281; Jennings v. McComb, 112 Pa. 518. Although the agent had no written authority to execute the demise, he had been orally directed to do so by Mr. Miles, who subsequently, on June 14, 1909, in writing, accepted the lease from the defendant with a written assignment to him, Miles, as “executor,” endorsed thereon. If no more, this was sufficient to sustain a finding that one owner had expressly ratified the act of
The assignment of error is overruled and the judgment is affirmed.