10 Vt. 211 | Vt. | 1838
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The general rule of law upon the subject of admitting oral evidence to contradict, vary or explain a written instrument is too well settled to require confirmation; The only difficulty; as in most cases, consists in the application of the rule, and in fixing the extent of the exceptions.
It is well settled that oral evidence may be received to explain a lafent ambiguity, or to define the extent of the subject matter to which any written instrument refers, or to explain the import of equivocal terms. But it is also well settled that a patent ambiguity cannofbe explained by oral testimony. So if a deed, or other instrument in writing, be so expressed, as to leave it wholly uncertain what was the intention of the parties, the instrument must remain inoperative. Life cannot be infused into it by oral eveidence.
The words of description used in this deed are, all the
It was decided by this court, two years ago, in relation to the levy of an execution, that where the lot was in rectangular form, a description of a certain number of acres, off the east end, was a sufficient description, by “ metes and bounds,” and should be intended to be by a line parallel with the lot line. The same was decided in the case of Beecher v. Parmele et al. 9 Vt. R. 352.
In the present case, it being conceded, that the lot is in rectangular form, having its sides towards the cardinal points, there is no uncertainty either in the terms, or in thier application to the subject matter. All is definite and certain. And it is well settled, that oral testimony can no more be received to rebut or contradict a legal intendment, than it can to contradict the express terms of a Written instrument.. Hence if a note, payable in specific articles on demand,[mention no place of payment, it is not competent to prove by parol, that the parties intended the note to be payable at any other place, than that which the law implies, which in some cases will be the domicil of the maker, and in others, the place at which the note is made.
Under the circumstances Of the case, to admit oral evidence of the manner in which this lot had been formerly holden and occupied, is nothing less than a resort to conjecture, to determine the intention of the parties. It would surely be safer and more rational to receive evidence of the declared intention of the parties at the time of making the contract, which could not be allowed. The situadon of the subject matter can never be resorted to as the basis of construction, except where the terms used may have one import with reference to one condition of the parties or the subject matter, and a different import with reference to a different condition. In the case of the promissory note just
In those states, where no equity jurisdiction exists, mistakes of this character are frequently corrected in the courts of common law. Brown v. Gilman, 13 Mass. R. 161. But to allow of that here, would be to confound the appropriate limits of jurisdiction, between the courts of common law and chancery. It will be readily admitted that some cases exist at common law, not easily reconcileable with the general rule upon the subject, — but such cases have not been followed. The subject is lucidly discussed, and put upon its true ground in Claremont v. Carleton, 2 N. H. R. 373, by Woodbury, J. The suggestion of Mr. Justice Story of an intermediate class of cases, between latent and patent ambiguities, may be in some sense well founded. Terms of indefinite signification may always be explained by oral evidence, as a foreign language may be translated by an interpreter, which is common, and necessary, where the instrument is not in the vernacular. 1 Mason, 11. In mercantile contracts, mere memoranda, or outlines of contracts, have been permitted to be explained by oral evidence of the interpretation given by merchants to such memoranda, which exception seems to belong to the class of Mr. Justice Story. Clark v. Russell, 3 Dallas’ R. 421. But no case, it is believed, will be found, where testimony has been received to vary the l^gal import of the instrument. See the cases cited, 3 Starkie’s evidence, 1026, and note by the American editor.
This subject, has been much discussed in the United States
Judgment of the County Court reversed, and a new trial granted.