750 CONTRACTS. [$ 602 Covenants and Conditions Distinguishable.-It is of the utmost importance that the technical distinctions between a covenant and a condition be understood. A covenant is an executory, promissory agreement to do or perform, and for breach of this promise an action will lie for the damages caused by the breach. A condition is an act required to be performed, or required not to be performed, or an event the happening of which shall dispense with further performance; and the effect of a condition' is to put an end to and forfeit all rights under the mutual stipulation to which it relates. But a condition does not sustain an action for damages.2 One can readily understand that a party might be willing to enter into a contract agreeing to do, or to sell, upon condition that if he did not do what he promised he should forfeit the consideration, where he would not be willing to make the same contract coupled with the responsibility to answer for uncertain damages which might be caused by this breach; and in order that the practitioner may not bring an action upon a contract which is in fact a mere condition, it is essential that the distinction be thoroughly understood.3 1 These rules apply to covenants in all classes of contracts and also to deeds and grants in wills; and while the citation is purposely restricted to as few cases as will illustrate the rule, the cases have been selected with a view to illustrate many phases of the subject. 2Hale v. Finch, 104 U. S. 266; Blanchard v. D., L. & L. M. Ry. Co., 31 Mich. 46; Palmer v, Plank-road Co., II N. Y. 389; Close v. Buriington, C. R. & N. Ry. Co., 64 Iowa, 149. These conditions are called in the 3 For example. in Hale v. Finch, This illustration is but one among thousands showing how the practical and the elementary are combined in ANDREWS' AMERICAN LAW. 1 vol. 1,250 pages. $6.50 net. CALLAGHAN & COMPANY, Chicago. WILL GO ON YOUR BOND. Transacts a General Trust and Guaranty Business. J. M. JACKSON, Jr., President. J. B. FINLEY, Secretary and Treasurer. V. B. ARCHER, General Counsel. Vice-Presidents. S. D. CAMDEN, F. S. LANDSTREET, HARRISON B. SMITH. Directors. J. M. Jackson, Jr., C. H. Shattuck, S. D. Camden, John T. McGraw, I. O. Reynolds, T. Moore, Jackson, David E. Johnston, Warren Miller, F. S. Landstreet, George A. Burt, Geo. F. Miller, W. P. Hubbard, Harrison B. Smith, I. C. White, J. B. Finley. Become sole surety on bonds of all kinds. Make loans on collateral and real estate. Collect incomes, rents, interests and dividends. Furnish equipment for railways under "Car Trust" system. Manage sinking funds for corporations and municipalities. Manage estates, real and personal, for you or your children. Act as trustee under mortgages, assignments and deeds of trust. We are prepared to execute Court Bonds promptly at every county seat in the State. Apply to Local Agents. HOME OFFICE, PARKERSBURG, W. VA. "The chief danger is that the choice of judges may be made for personal or partisan advantage, and not for the best interests of the courts. Here, as elsewhere, eternal vigilance is necessary. The danger must be met by an enlightened public sentiment, led by an independent, manly, and patriotic bar. In this matter the bar is the guardian of the courts." PUBLISHED BY THE WEST VIRGINIA BAR ASSOCIATION Printed at Morgantown, West Virginia. ST. PAUL, MINN. The National Reporter System Is a comprehensive series of State and Federal law reports, covering the whole country, and including many cases omitted from the several official State Reports. It furnishes the bar with reports which are, as a rule, the first published, and which cost about one-fourth as much as the official editions. They are authentic, being furnished us in manuscript by court officials and generally revised in proof by the judge who wrote the opinion. Besides giving all the current cases, the Reporters contain two-fifths of all reported American caselaw, and this the latest part. The American Digest System Is the only enterprise giving complete control of all The Century Digest, a new and complete digest The American Digest Continuations, (Bound and Bimonthly editions), supplementing the Century from 1897. The Century Digest and its continuations are all under a uniform classification, and the arrangement of matter makes the decisions of each state separately available. They thus include a new and complete digest of your own State Reports. C3058 THE WEST VIRGINIA BAR. VOL. VII. MORGANTOWN W. VA., SEPTEMBER, 1900. Jhe West Virginia Bar|[F PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE West Virginia State Bar Association Entered at the Post Office at Morgantown, as second-class mail matter. An Open Forum. This journal is intended to furnish an open forum to every lawyer for the discussion of any policy or proposition of interest to the Profession. it invites a free interchange of views upon all such topics whether they agree with the views of THE BAR or not. No. 9. F Circuit Clerks who have not made reports this year, will send them in promptly, they will make us happy. UR brother, John W. Davis, of Clarksburg, will have the sympathy of the bar of the State, in his very sad bereavement. WE THE BAR goes to every Court House in the state WE are under obligations for recent favors to and is read by, probably, three-fourths of the law. Circuit Clerks R. W. McWilliams, of Cabyers of the State, and thus furnishes not only ell county, J. V. Bell, of Mineral county, a ready medium of communication between mem- W. H. Wilson, of Randolph county, and to J. W. bers of the Profession, but of unification of the McCauley, of Moorefield. Profession on all matters of common concern, which is its prime mission. Every clerk of a circuit court. is the authorized agent of THE BAR in his county, and has the subscription bills in his possession, and will receive and receipt for all money due on that account, or for new subscriptions, and his receipt will always be a good acquittance for money due THE BAR. Τ HE issues of the present campaign which have grown up spontaneously out of the history of the times, will be the "paramount issues," no matter whether they are so designated in the party platform or not. HE 23rd annual meeting of the American Bar Association took place at Saratoga on the 29-31 ult. It was, as usual, a very interesting meeting, and we hope to give our readers some of the best things of the meeting in our next THE BAR is furnished at the nominal rate of $1 a year, which is less than the cost of publication, and we would like to have the name of every law-number. We also hope to find that our State Asin the State on our subscription list. sociation was represented there. |