118 Ga. 424 | Ga. | 1903
The plaintiff below, a resident of Florida, sued McCullough Brothers, a firm doing business in Atlanta, for the price oí a car-load of cabbage. Certain correspondence between the parties was introduced in evidence as forming a contract upon which the suit was based. It'is inferable from the record, that, prior to the time the correspondence contained therein began, negotiations had been pending between the parties for the sale by the plaintiff to the defendants of a car-load of cabbage. The first letter, in
We find no error in the portions of the charge of which complaint was made. Plainly the letters and telegrams introduced in evidence constituted an unambiguous contract of purchase and sale, and it was not only the right, but the duty of the court to construe that contract, in order that the jury might pass intelligently upon the issues presented for their determination. It is equally clear that the court did not err in charging the jury that, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, delivery by the plaintiff to the carrier in-Florida was delivery to the defendants. Mann v. Glauber, 96 Ga. 795, and cases cited. In the brief of counsel for the plaintiffs in error, however, it is urged that Armstrong did not part with the-title to the goods, because they were shipped with a draft attached to the bill of lading, showing that it was not intended that they should be delivered to McCullough Brothers until the draft was-paid. As to this the record is bj7 no means clear. In the letter from McCullough Brothers to the plaintiff, they say: “ We will have our bank guarantee payment of draft, as per your letter,” while in one of their telegrams they direct that the goods be-shipped, “ sight draft bill lading attached.” There is nothing in the evidence to indicate what the intention of the plaintiff was in shipping the goods, but it is recited in the order passed by the court that “ the bill of lading was made to the order of the defendants.”' That being the case, and there being an entire lack of evidence to show any agreement between the parties that title was to be retained in the plaintiff after the goods were turned over to the carrier, the instructions given by the court on this subject were clearly correct. In this view of the case, the sole issue to be determined, by the jury was whether the goods, when delivered to the carrier,, came up to the stipulations of the contract between the parties.
Judgment affirmed.