Court Opinion

ID: 9567198
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:50:19.072044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:23.031114
License: Public Domain

Undercofler, Justice,
dissenting. "The illegality of a bargain for the reason that it is made or is to be performed on Sunday is dependent entirely upon a statute. At both common law and in equity such bargains were lawful and enforceable to the same extent as if made on any other day of the week.” 6A Corbin on Contracts 623, § 1477; Hayden v. Mitchell, 103 Ga. 431 (3) (30 SE 287); Dorough v. Equitable Mortgage Co., 118 Ga. 178 (2) (45 SE 22).
The only Georgia statute applicable here provides, *505"Any person who shall pursue his business or the work of his ordinary calling on the Lord’s day, works of necessity or charity only excepted, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” Code Ann. § 26-9908 (Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1249, 1337).
"Substantially the same provision has been the law of Georgia since the passage of the Act of 1762. The effect of this statute is to declare illegal, as being contrary to the public policy, all contracts made on Sunday which are executed in the work of one’s ordinary calling or in the pursuit of his ordinary business.” Dorough v. Equitable Mortgage Co., 118 Ga. 178, 179, supra.
The contract here is not illegal. It was not entered into on Sunday. Furthermore, it was an isolated transaction. It was the sale of a partnership interest with an option to repurchase. It was not in the ordinary business of either party. Neither is the monthly option payment which is required to be made on Sunday in the ordinary business of either party.
The contract provided, "Time is and shall be of the essence of this agreement.” The appellant made no effort to tender the payment due on Sunday, May 21, 1972. He testified that he forgot it was due.
In my opinion the correct law is stated in Rowell v. Harrell Realty Co., 25 Ga. App. 585 (103 SE 717) as follows: "The petition in this case showing that time was of the essence of the contract, and that there was no offer to exercise the right to purchase the property under the option within the time limit contracted, and there being no statutory enactment which extends the time in the contract, it was error for the court to overrule the general demurrer.”
The majority opinion admits that it is applying a rule of statutory construction to contracts. This is erroneous. Furthermore, the majority opinion concedes this rule does not apply to a contract where the intention is *506manifest. Here the intention of the contract is manifest by the provision which states, "Time is and shall be of the essence of this agreement.”
In my opinion the majority has established a rule of law which extends to Monday a specific legal option contract requiring payment on Sunday — something the legislative bodies of this State have not seen fit to do in the last 210 years.
The trial court’s judgment was correct and should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Justice Nichols concurs in this dissent.