163 Pa. 590 | Pa. | 1894
Opinion by
It appears to the writer that McCormick was the real as well as the apparent owner of the tobacco when he agreed with the defendants to sell and deliver it to them. It was raised on his farm, under an arrangement with Fowler and the Doreys which he described on the. trial as follows : “ They received the half for planting it and working it, and taking care of it and packing it.” Surely this arrangement did not make the parties to it tenants in common of the tobacco or partners in raising it, nor establish between them the relation of landlord and tenant. Fowler and the Doreys were employees of McCormick in raising the tobacco, and were to receive one half of it as compensation for their labor. They were croppers, and as such they acquired no property in the tobacco before it was divided: Fry v. Jones, 2 Rawle, 11; Adams v. McKesson, 53 Pa. 81; Steel v. Frick, 56 Pa. 175; and Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, vol. 4, pages 887 and 889, and cases there cited. But what has been said on this subject may be regarded as a mere suggestion of a possible view of the case which was not presented on the trial or in the argument on appeal. It will not be made a factor in the decision of the case.
The-appellants complain of the" instructions which allowed the jury to consider the payment made by the defendants when they purchased the tobacco as a set-off in or equitable defence to this action. The conditions on which the jury were permitted to so consider it were that the payment was- made on account of the tobacco which McCormick sold to the defendants at that time, or that he became indebted to them in that amount by his failure to deliver the Fowler crop in accordance with his agreement. We think the instructions, read in the light of these conditions or qualifications and the evidence in the case, were promotive of justice and free from error. In the first place McCormick, as apparent owner of the tobacco, agrees to sell and deliver it to them. Their agreement was in writing and with him. The designation of the tobacco in this agreement as the “Wm. Dorey crop and Al. Dorey crop ” or “ the Fowler crop,” did not make Fowler or the Doreys parties to the agreement or partners of McCormick in the sale, nor was it intended to do so. In the next place it appears from the testimony of McCormick that he paid the Doreys one half the
The specifications of error are overruled.
Judgment affirmed.