27 Mo. 171 | Mo. | 1858
delivered the opinion of the court.
The instructions in this case are inconsistent with each other. The court declares that McCune’s letter of February, 1852, did not amount to a contract that the Jeanie Deans should be out in April, in accordance with the decision made by this court when the case was here before; (see 21 Mo. 215 ;) but gives the first and second instructions on behalf of the plaintiff, which are altogether based upon the hypothesis that such a contract was made. The only proof of such a contract was McCune’s letter of February, 1852.
If no wages for the time previous to the coming out of the Jeanie Deans were due to Johnson, then the damages arising from the breach of the contract to employ him at that time, if such a breach occurred, must be estimated as they would be for the breach of any other contract, without reference to what had occurred previously.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded;