4 Wash. 54 | Wash. | 1892
Lead Opinion
Respondents brought suit to recover two months’ rent, amounting to $1,000, which they claimed to be due them from appellants, the defendants below, by virtue of a certain lease of a lot and building thereon, in the city of Tacoma. The lease was executed in due form on the 6th day of July, 1889, to take effect on the first day of September following, and to continue for the period of five years. The defendants went into possession of the premises thereunder and continued to hold the same, and paid the stipulated rent therefor, •$500.00 per month, until the month of August, 1891, at which time they refused to pay the rent any longer, and the respondents subsequently brought this action to recover the rent due for the months of August and September. The defendants in their answer alleged that the plaintiffs were married men, and set up the necessary facts to show that the property leased was at all the times specified community property of the plaintiffs, and their said wives, and alleged that said purported lease was void because the same had not been executed by the wives of the plaintiffs.
Appellants contend that by reason of the premises stated no action could be maintained on the lease, and cite Hoover v. Chambers, 3 Wash. T. 26 (13 Pac. Rep. 547), and Holyoke v. Jackson, 3 Wash. T. 235 (13 Pac. Rep. 841), in support of their position. While possibly there may be something said in the opinions rendered in those cases which would in a measure justify this contention, yet the facts here are so essentially different from the facts in either of those cases that we do not regard them as applicable. In the first case suit was brought to compel the husband to execute a lease of community lands in compliance with an agreement made by him. The wife was not a party to the agreement, and the court refused to compel the execution of the lease on the ground that the husband
In the case at bar the wives of the plaintiffs have at no time appeared upon the scene, nor did they in any manner interfere with the defendants’ use and enjoyment of the property. The lease contained the following covenant:
“And the said parties of the first part covenant that the said parties of the second part, on paying the said monthly rent, and performing the covenants aforesaid, shall and may peaceably and quietly have, hold and enjoy the said demised premises for the term aforesaid.”
While the husbands could not execute a valid lease of community lands, we do not think this lease was absolutely void. If the defendants had been ousted we see no good reason why they could not have maintained an action for damages upon the breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment. It does not appear that they knew the plaintiffs were married men, or knew the property was community property when the lease was executed, so that it could be contended they stood in the position of willful violators of the law.
We are satisfied the defendants could not avoid the performance of the terms of this lease upon their part without first demanding a valid lease from the plaintiffs, and it does
“These defendants allege that they occupied the said premises from month to month and paid the rental demanded each month therefor, until the month of August, 1891, when it was conceded by all the parties hereto, that said pretended lease agreement was void and of no effect; and these defendants refused to pay the rental demanded for the said month of August, and offered to surrender up said premises to plaintiffs; whereupon the plaintiffs requested these defendants to continue to occupy the said premises from month to month at a rental of $400.00 per month, which these defendants refused to do, but offered to pay the sum of $300.00 per month rental for the said month of August, and for each month of the time they should occupy said premises, which was refused on the part of said plaintiffs; thereafter on the 24th day of said month of August, these defendants surrendered to said plaintiffs the said premises; whereupon the said plaintiffs requested these defendants to occupy the said premises from month to month at a fair and reasonable rental, which these defendants consented to do, and accordingly re-entered and made new arrangements, and have since ■accordingly held the same; that thereafter the said plaintiffs claimed and insisted that $400.00 per month was a fair and reasonable rental for the said premises; well knowing that $300.00 per month was a full, fair and ample rental therefor; that this unreasonable demand was not in good faith but was unjustly made for the reason, as defendants are informed and believe and so allege, that the said plaintiffs knew that it would be of great damage to these defendants to again surrender the premises.”
“ Sec. 85. Sham, frivolous and irrelevant answers and defenses may be stricken out on motion, and upon such terms as the court may in its discretion impose.”
And § 95 provides:
“ If irrelevant or redundant matter be inserted in a pleading it may be stricken out on motion of any person aggrieved thereby; and when the allegations of a pleading are so indefinite or uncertain that the precise nature of the charge or defense is not apparent, the court may require the pleading to be made definite and certain by amendment, or may dismiss the same.”
As to the rule of construction to be recognized, § 94 provides that:. “ In the construction of a pleading for the purpose of determining its effect, its allegations shall be liberally construed.” All prior forms of pleading were abolished by the code, and it prescribed what they should be thereafter, and also the rule by which their sufficiency
“The averments of this pleading are vague and indefinite, and it is defective in other respects; yet, when bolstered by the rule of liberal construction commanded by the code, we think we discern a cause of action. A suitor is no longer to be turned out of court, if by making all reasonable intendments in his favor enough can be seized hold of in his pleadings to show that he has rights which ought to be enforced. He may be required on motion to conform his statement to the rules of good pleading, and if he refuse, may be turned out of court; but as against a demurrer, the office of which is to raise a substantial issue on the law of the case, and not on the law of practice and pleading, evidentiary facts, and even inferences from averments amounting to mere conclusions of law, will be considered in his favor.”
In Trustees v. Odlin, 8 Ohio St. 296, under very similar statutory provisions, Swan, J., in rendering the opinion, said:
"The sufficiency of pleadings, under the code, as to certainty, precision, definiteness and consistency of allegation, and indeed in respect of every other variety of defect of allegations which does not amount to such an absolute omission of fact as to constitute no ground of action or defense, must be taken advantage of or objected to by motion under the above provision of the code, and can afford no ground for demurrer or assignment of error.
■ “ If pleadings shall be in ordinary language, as contra-distinguished from legal technical language, they must be construed as meaning what is generally understood by ordinary language, and hence there can be no established technical mode of stating a cause of action or defense. So, too, the rules of the common law as to the sufficiency of pleadings, are abrogated, and in their place is substituted the few and simple rules of the code.”
See People v. Ryder, 12 N. Y. 433; Slattery v. Hall, 43 Cal. 191.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
Anders, O. J., and Dunbar, J., concur.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). — I am unable to agree with the rule for the construction of pleadings laid down by the majority of the court. It seems to require all the intendments to be brought to the aid of a pleading, when seasonably attacked by demurrer, that would attach after verdict. That such was not the rule at common law is so well settled that it is not necessary to argue the question. It is claimed, however, that this difference of construction has been abrogated by our statute. The provisions of our statute are substantially the same as those of the other code states, and I do not think that such provisions should be construed as going to the extent thus contended for. The rule laid down by the majority of the court is, in my opinion, against public policy, and should not be held to obtain unless such construction of the statute is absolutely necessary. Such rule, once established and understood, would have a direct tendency to encourage a careless and slipshod method of pleading. There would no longer exist any motive for accuracy and clearness of statement on the part of the pleader. In fact, the more blind and uncertain a pleading could be made, the safer it would be for the pleader; for if his pleading is attacked by demurrer, it would be the duty of the court, in the light of the argument had upon the question, to so interpret every ambiguous or uncertain expression as to sustain the pleading,
The State of New York, as the original code state, is largely relied upon as a guide in determining to what extent the rules of the common law have been changed by
Stiles, J., concurs.