138 Mass. 375 | Mass. | 1885
The defendant insured the plaintiff “ on his stock of rags, old metals, bones, and barrels ” contained in his storehouse. The plaintiff is a junk-dealer, “ his stock ” consisting of old articles and materials, paper stock, pieces and fragments of all kinds, and it could not be particularly described in a policy or other contract without great prolixity. We think it was competent for the plaintiff to prove that, by a usage of the trade, the terms, “rags” and “ old metals” had acquired a broader signification than belongs to these words as commonly used.
The usage upon which the plaintiff relied was not a particular or a local usage, but was a general usage of the trade. The defendant asked the court to rule “ that a usage or custom of a particular trade, in order to bind the defendant, must be proved
Underwriters insuring by certain words may fairly be presumed to know the mercantile meaning of those words; and the feet of a wide-spread and established use has at least a tendency to show that they had such knowledge. Howard v. Great Western Ins. Co. 109 Mass. 384. Croucher v. Wilder, 98 Mass. 322. Astor v. Union Ins. Co. 7 Cow. 202.
We are of opinion that the instructions given at the trial were sufficiently favorable to the defendant.
Exceptions overruled.
The plaintiff was permitted to prove a custom in the jnnk trade to include under the term “ rags ” all articles used in the manufacture of paper, and under the term “ old metals ” various articles, such as old rubber and old glass.