Court Opinion

ID: 9612010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:02:36.33229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:52.290599
License: Public Domain

WHITE, J.
I concur.While explanation of a contract by reference to the circumstances under which it was made and the matter to which it relates is authorized by section 1647 of the Civil Code, such evidence is never admissible in connection with a written contract to add or take away anything from the agreement. This rule of evidence is applicable only in cases where upon the face of the contract itself there is doubt, “to dispel that doubt, not by showing that the parties meant something other than what they said, but by showing what they meant by what they said” (United Iron Works v. Outer Harbor etc. Co., 168 Cal. 81, 84, 85 [141 P. 917]). Were the proffered evidence offered in the instant case received, its effect would be to put a different sense and construction upon the language of the contract from that which it would naturally bear, and not to show the circumstances under which the language was used. The language of the contract here in question was clear and understandable, and there was no need for interpretation by way of “surrounding circumstances” in connection with its execution. The evidence offered was therefore properly excluded. (Boat & Barge Corp. v. Beverly etc. Co., 71 Cal.App.2d 800, 810 [163 P.2d 913].)