Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-08-22
FULFILLING THE CONTRACT

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furnish an article or perform services
to the satisfaction of the other par
tv. Your watch is out of order; you
take it to a watch maker, yet hest
tate about leaving it for him to re-
pair. He agrees to fix it to your sat
isfaction. You wish to purchase a sill
yer dish of a jeweler, but you desire
a monogram placed upon it, and you
doubt that he possesses the artistic
ability and good taste to do the work
so that it will please you He assures
you that he can and will please you
and that if he does not perform the
task to your satisfaction you need not
take the dish. You give him an order
under these conditions.
You wish to have your roof flXed
and, driving a close bargain, insist
that the carpenter agree that he VIII
perform the task to your satlsfac-
ton, else he need not be paid. You
90 to your tailor to place an order
for a suit In his anxiety to secure
the order. which you seem somewhat
loathe to give, he assures you that
he will make you a suit that Will SAT
isfy you and that if he does not you
need not take it.
In each of these cases you nave ell
tered into a contract with the trades
man or workman, ealing for the per-
f0rmance of certain labor and the fur-
nishine of materials or the sale OF an
article. Now, suppose that in each or
these cases the work specified is per-
formed in fair and Workmanllke
manner with reasonable skill. Yet,
sunnose YOU have changed your MIND
in every case and no longer desire
the article or the work that was done
or Won feel that the work does not
quite please you. Therefore, you insls
that as the others took the, risk OF
pleasing you, you are entitled to III
sist that they do it and if they 90
not you may refuse to accept the work
which they have performed for you.
They insist that the work is we'll
done and that you ought to be salts
fled. Your contention is that no one
but yourself can say whether you are
satisfied or not and that if you say
YOU are not that settles 1t.
Suppose that the watch maker, the
ieweler. the carpenter and the tailor
all sue you. insisting that they have
performed their portion of the con-
tract and that you must make the
pavment agreed Are you entitled 10
insist upon the letter of the contract
and enforce you own word as TO
whether q reasonable man would say
that you ought to be satisfied? Inc
answer is that in some cases you can
and in some cases you cannot.
The matchmaker and the carpent T
could force you to accept their work
and make the agreed payment; the
ieweler and the tailor would proDap-
" be forced to accept your decision
that Won were not satisfied, and make
such other disposition as they could
of the dish engraved with your mono
gram and the suit cut to your meas
are. without receiving any pay what
ever from you. The distinction which
the law draws between these cases is
the distinction between work requlr-
inc q mechanical execution and me-
chanical excellence and work de-
signed to fit varying personal taste,
as work of an artistic nature. If
Brick foundation is to be built for
YOUR new shed, and is to be COM
Dleted in substantial and workman
like manner, and a jury OF ordinary
men decide that reasonable man
would be satisfied, then the law Will
insist that you ought to be satisfied
whether you say that you are or not
So it is, also, with the repairing oil
the watch and the repairing OF the
roof. These are mechanical acts, and
if the jury finds the work well and
properly done, and believes in view
of all the circu instances that reas-
enable person would be satisfied, you
will be compelled to accept the work
despite the fact that the agreement
required that it should be done to
YOUR personal satisfaction. But a suit
of clothes and a monogram upon a
silver dish are matters involving per-
sonal taste rather than mechanical
excellence If these articles do not
conform to your personal tastes you
do not want them, and no one can
decide that you ought to want them,
for it is proverbia1 that there is no
accounting for tastes.
1t is a general rule that contract
must be performed literally. Neither
party can claim to have performed
the contract until he has. done just
exactly what the contract requires in
all of it's terms. The work or mater
ial tO he furnished or the money to