Rafferty v. Butler

Briscoe, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This suit was brought by the plaintiff against the defendant in the Baltimore City Court to recover damages for an alleged breach of a contract for the sale of a Ford Touring Car. At the trial the defendant’s demurrer to the declaration was sustained with leave to amend. The plaintiff declined to amend and from a judgment on the demurrer in favor of the defendant for costs this appeal has been taken.

The contract was in writing and is set out in full in the declaration. It provides in substance for the sale of a Ford automobile car at the price of three hundred and sixty dollars, plus freight and delivery charges of twenty one dollars and twenty-five cents. A deposit of twenty-five dollars in cash was made at the time of the contract and the plaintiff agreed to pay the balance and accept delivery of car within forty-eight hours after being notified it was ready. The contract also contained a clause that the agreement between the parties “comprises the entire contract pertaining to this purchase and no other agreement of any kind, verbal understanding or promises whatsoever, will be recognized.” The declaration also avers that although the contract itself stipulates that the contract price for the car was $360, the real and true consideration was the payment of the sum of $25 at the time the contract was signed, and thereafter, the sum of $135 in cash and the delivery of the plaintiff’s old or second-hand Ford truck or car to the defendant, which he was to accept as the balance of the purchase price, namely the sum of two hundred dollar's.

The failure of the defendant to accept the Ford truck or car as a part of the purchase price is alleged and relied upon as a breach of the contract and forms the basis of the suit. ⁴³² It would seem to he clear under the special clause of the contract itself, apart from any legal' proposition involved, that the plaintiff would be estopped in this case from alleging a different consideration from that set out iñ the written contract as is sought to be done in this case. The seventh clause of the written contract provides that the contract itself contained the entire agreement in relation to'thie' purchase, and no other agreement of any kind, verbal Understanding or promises whatsoever would be recognized. '■''The rule of law is too well settled to be now disturbed, that the written instrument is the final