Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-19

pected results may flow from 1t in the
future AS / have said. there Is alb
| solutely no harm in the use of seals
and absolutely no Inconvenience; but
| if you dispense with the use of seals
you don't know what results will fol-
low. / remember a few years ago
couple of men came into my Office. and
| for convenience / will refer to them
as Jim Jones and Sam Brown, and
| they said, Squire, we want a contract
| made" Jim says, Il have agreed to
build barn for Sam Jones, and we
want you to reduce that to writing.
| and put it in writing. We don't want
one of those great long, verbose writ
| ten contracts such as you lawyers are
| in the habit of getting up; we want
something short and plain and sim
ple," and / concluded that for once I
would do what my client wanted me
to do, and put it in, writing, and as /
| recall it, this is what l wrote: Il, Jim
Jones, agree to build a barn for Sam
Brown for $500; and /, Sam Brown,
agree to pay Jim Jones $500 for build
ing the barn. Well. they looked it
over and said it was all right, and they
We're glad they had found one lawyer
that could make a plain and simple
contract that they could understand,
and they signed it, and they said they
guessed they would leave it with me
and put it in my safe. About two or
three days after that the two gentle
men came back, and they looked trou-
bled. and both of them looked per-
picked, and one of them says, Squire.
sah hnt
writing we executed the other day:
we kind of want you~to tell US who is
to furnish the lumber for building tina;
barn. 0-aughter) how long is that
barn to be, how long and how wide?"
Well, | said, Gentlemen, that is a
very interesting question, but l cam
not tell you how long the barn is to
be, or how big. or how wide, or how
high the posts are to be, or anything
about the dimensions of the barn. or
what sort of shingles are to go ON
the roof, or when worl. Is 10 begin
on it, or when the money is to be
paid | told them that they had q
valid contract, and | would be willing
to submit it to any lawyer in this
House, that that contract was valid.
because it contained three Essential
elements, parties, subject matter and
consideration. | said, Gentlemen
those are all questions for the court:
you have got just the kind of a con-
tract you wanted, and now unless you
can otherwise agree you will have to
go to the court for settlement of all
those questions" Well, the result was
that put in the rest of the day writ
tnO or wit in,
it, and l am free to say that they paid
| me for my services.
The point is that those two gentle
| men had not thought about any of
those things, and they simply wanted
a very plain and simple statement.
They hadn't thought anything about
the size the barn or anything like
that That is just the way it some
times works when an act goes through
1.-THE Legislature; unless it is careful
~ thought out in advance what the
effect and result will be, somebody is
going to be hurt
In the absence of any reason that
has been given by the gentleman from
| Lisbon 0Mr. Plummer) for the aboli-
ton of seals, l hope that this House
will not take the responsibility of
abolishing a custom which has obtain
ed in this State ever since we have
been a state, and which obtains in
every common law jurisdiction, but
will continue to let the law be just as
| it is now, that deedsSshould be sealed
| instruments.
Mr.. PLUMBER: Mr.. Speaker, I
| thought / would not say anything
more upon this matter but there are
| one or two points raised by the gem
tleman from Pressure Isle (Mr Smith,
which think may be worthy of at
tention. / would say, first, that in
| my judgment if this Legislature
should kill this seal proposition or
stop its further continuance, that the
| stone which would be erected to its
| memory describing it's virtues would
| be blank on all sides.
| The gentleman has stated that a
| contract must have consideration,
and that the seal implied that such
| consideration existed. That is the
very point to which / object | OBJ
ject to that little red piece of paper
| stuck after my name, or stuck after
| the name of anybody, attesting any
| thing which is not attested by the
/ SlStldtuTe. DO lar DIS L ullueTStdHu IflS
| bill-and / suppose that no ex post
| facto law is to be passed-Section
| provides as follows: "All writings OBJ
| ligatory and instruments of convey
ance shall be equally valid in any
court of this State whether with or
without attached or scroll Gas distin-
guished from ifnpressioneO SEAL"
That is all i. asks; that if man
signs his name to a document it would
be just as valid without that piece
liof red paper on it, or whether there
is one. What objection can there be
to anything like that? II there is
iany objection. it is certainly, beyond
my ken. These old customs that have
/ come down to us we do not need to
continue just because they don't do
any harm. What we want now is on
ly such things as do good. This is
| one of the things. as l tried to show
the other Gay, which l think has out
lived its usefulness; there was a time
when it was useful, and there was
time When it was a signature, but the
signature now has taken the place
of the seal.
Z