124 Ky. 310 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1907
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
The appellees, Mary Sells and Annie Sells, being the owners in fee simple of a house and lot (called in this record a hotel) in Owensboro, Ky., leased the same to the appellant by the following contract in writing; “June 8, 1904. This contract made and. agreed to by and between Mrs. Mary Sells and Annie Sells, of the first part, and Mrs, Fannie Pulliam of the second part. 'Witnesseth: That the first party
When the inquest reached the circuit court, the tenant (appellant) filed a plea of former acquittal in bar of the procedure under the second writ. To this the court sustained a general demurrer, and refused, upon the trial, to permit the tenant to introduce the
The appellant relied upon two defenses: First, as said before, the plea of former acquittal; second, that the written lease relied upon by the owners (appellees) was a forgery, in that it had been changed in a material manner, and that by the genuine contract the appellees had rented the premises to her as long as she continued to pay $20 per month, which would practically make it a perpetual lease, instead of a lease from month to month.
The question as to whether or not the writing above quoted was or not the genuine lease by which the premises were rented to appellant was properly submitted to- the jury by the instructions of the court, and they found it adversely to appellant’s contention. The evidence adduced upon this issue abundantly sustained the verdict, and this is all that need be said upon that question here.
The plea of former acquittal is untenable. The lease being by the month, either party could abandon it by giving’ one montlUs notice. Reccius & Bro. v. Columbia Finance & Trust Co., 120 Ky. 478, 86 S. W. 1113, 27 Ky. Law Rep. 880; Taylor on Landlord and Tenant, section 57; Wood on Landlord and Tenant, section 50. The owners were only precluded by the verdict of not guilty upon the first inquest from any further procedure under the first notice. After that they were at liberty to give a new notice for any other month to vacate the tenancy, and proceed under it, as was done here. Shepherd v. Thompson, 2 Bush. 176.
No injury accrued to appellant by the court’s permitting expert witnesses to compare her signature to the lease in dispute with her admitted genuine signature to other papers and pleadings. The signatures introduced for comparison were first shown to appellant and admitted by her to be genuine. This being
Perceiving no error in the record, the judgment is affirmed.