Julius Kessler & Co. v. Askin

Burke, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant is a corporation, and in October, 1918, it was a distiller of whiskies with its main office located in Chicago, and a branch office in New York. A Mr. Rosenbaum was a salesman and manager of the New York office. Max ⁶⁴⁸ M. Berkowitz was the local salesman for the corporation in Baltimore and had been in its employ for five years.

The appellee was a saloonkeeper in Baltimore City, and on two occasions prior to the giving of the order involved in this case had given orders to the appellant, through Berkowitz and Rosenbaum, for whiskies which had been thereafter delivered. On November 13, 1918, Berkowitz and Rosenbaum called upon the appellee and solicited an order for whisky, and he gave them an order for certain quantities and kinds of whiskies specified in the order. It was a written order and was signed by the appellee only. The order which the appellee signed was taken from a book sent by the appellant to. its salesmen and was partly printed with blank spaces in which was to be filled in the name of the agent, the kind and quantity of whisky ordered and terms of payment.

The books were so arranged that three impressions or copies could be made of each one, one of which was sent to the appellant, one was retained by the purchaser, and one by the salesman. The order which was signed by the appellee contained the notice or statement that salesmen were not authorized to make contracts other than therein specified, and that the contract was “subject to approval of your home office. At the time of signing the order, the appellee gave his check for $250 on account of the purchase, and Berkowitz, the salesman, promptly sent the check and order to the New York office of the corporation. On November 16, 1918, Julius Kessler, the president of the appellant corporation, wrote the appellee that the