71 Pa. Super. 142 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1919
Opinion by
This action is in trespass and the plaintiff’s statement contains all the elements essential to an action on the case for deceit. The statement averred that, on or about July 31, 1915, the plaintiff sold and delivered to the defendant an automobile for $450 and at the same time agreed to sell and deliver to the defendant shingles at $4.40 per thousand to the amount of $150 and did on or about the 12th day of August, 1915, in pursuance of said agreement, furnish and deliver to the defendant, shingles
While this action sounds in trespass, the plaintiff's right was founded upon contract. Conceding all the averments of the statement to be established by evidence, the measure of damages will be the difference between the value of what the plaintiff was to receive under the contract, and the value of what he really did receive. There was no other standard. It was incumbent on the plaintiff in the outset to prove the fraud, the contract, the representations, their falsity, and the extent of the injury resulting therefrom: Stetson v. Croskey, 52 Pa. 230; Martachowski v. Orawitz, 14 Pa. Superior Ct. 175. It was admitted that the parties had bargained for an exchange of the judgment note of Campbell for the auto
The evidence produced by the plaintiff, as well as that of the defendant, established beyond controversy that the contract was made on Sunday, August 1, 1915, and that the note and the automobile were on that day exchanged. There was no evidence from which a jury should be permitted to infer that there, had been any contract made prior to that date. The only incident of the transaction occurring on any other day was the subsequent delivery of the shingles, which completed the execution of the contract. The rights of the plaintiff were founded upon this contract, the fruits of which he is attempting to gather in this action. The making of the contract involved a violation of the Act of April 22, 1794, which imposes a penalty for doing business of this character on Sunday. That statute, however, merely pronounces a penalty for violation of its provisions, and does not expressly annul or avoid the act done. In this respect it differs from the statutes against gaming which avoid all contracts made in violation of their provisions, and give a right of action to recover back moneys paid or lost. The effect which has been uniformly given to this statute is that contracts made on Sunday are unlawful, because a penalty implies a prohibition though there are no prohibitory words in the statute. The doctrine of the cases is that the law will not lend its aid to enforce a contract made in violation of the provisions of the statute. The law does not help the parties to the
The judgment is reversed and the record is remitted to the court below with direction to enter judgment in favor of the defendant non obstante veredicto.