Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/272/272mass138.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:24:02+00:00

Document:
PRESCOTT W. LOVELL vs. COMMONWEALTH THREAD COMPANY, INC., & another.
(3) The demurrer properly was sustained since no obligation with respect to the payment of commissions rested upon the individual.
CONTRACT. Writ dated November 14, 1927.
The plaintiff's declaration is described in the opinion. The defendant Macdougal demurred. The demurrer was heard in the Superior Court by Whiting, J., who ordered it sustained and thereupon reported the action for determination by this court.
C. A. Parker, (J. H. White with him,) for the plaintiff.
John Wentworth, for the defendant Macdougal.
and other valuable consideration each to the other paid, and of the mutual promises each to the other made, it is hereby mutually agreed as follows: -" Then follow paragraphs numbered in arabic numerals 1 to 8 inclusive. It is stated in 1 that the Thread Company will employ the plaintiff as salesman in such territory as Macdougal may determine, in 3 that the Thread Company will pay the plaintiff a weekly salary to be determined by Macdougal, in 4 that the Thread Company will pay the plaintiff a commission of two per cent on his net sales, in 5 that the plaintiff may employ assistants or subsalesmen in substance in accordance with conditions determined by Macdougal, and in 6 that Macdougal shall determine the selling prices. In 7 it is provided that, in case the contract does not prove "satisfactory to the parties hereto . . . then said party shall give the other party a written notice" with certain consequences and alternatives and the further stipulation that if "the contract is terminated, said Thread Company or said Macdougal shall have no right to take over any selling organization which said Lovell may then have." The remaining two paragraphs relate to the obligation of the plaintiff not to engage in any conflicting business and to the cancellation of an earlier contract. Macdougal is not mentioned in either of those paragraphs. The testimonium clause recites that "the parties hereunto set their hands and seals to this and a duplicate hereof." The contract is signed by the three parties to this action and is under seal.
The cause assigned in the demurrer of Macdougal is that the declaration sets out no cause of action against him. This presents the only question to be decided. Stated more analytically, the question is whether the contract is joint throughout, rendering each defendant liable jointly with the other for any and every breach, or whether it is severable.
ascertained and applied to the adjustment of the dispute. It is wholly a matter of construction and each contract is to be interpreted according to its own tenor. Resort may be had to certain presumptions or to the circumstances as aids in cases of doubt, but every other rule yields to the purpose of the parties as disclosed by the words used and by the nature of the understanding disclosed by the instrument. The ultimate and final rule of law in all cases is to discover that purpose. Bartlett v. Robbins, 5 Met. 184, 187. Springfield v. Harris, 107 Mass. 532, 540. Erickson v. Ames, 264 Mass. 436, 443, 444 and cases reviewed. Widner v. Western Union Telegraph Co. 47 Mich. 612. White v. Tyndall, 13 App. Cas. 263. Williston on Contracts, § 323. "Where two or more persons covenant with another by the words 'we covenant,' the words indicate a joint covenant, and are to be so considered, unless from the whole contract it should appear that such was not the understanding of the parties. If two covenant generally for themselves, without any words of severance, or that they, or any one of them, shall do such a thing, a joint charge is created." Donahoe v. Emery, 9 Met. 63, 67. New Haven & Northampton Co. v. Hayden, 119 Mass. 361. Meyer v. Estes, 164 Mass. 457.
commissions due to the plaintiff. No other default in the performance of the contract is alleged except failure to pay the commission. That is an obligation not imposed on him by the contract. It follows that the demurrer was sustained rightly.

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