Steele v Low and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Court | High Court |
English Reports Citation: 175 E.R. 1278
QUEEN'S BENCH COMMON PLEAS AND EXCHEQUER
Middlesex Sittings, Hilary Term, 1862. steele v Low and another. (Where a newspaper proprietor carried on business under the control of inspectors, who were empowered by the deed to pay costs, &c , and reimburse themselves out of monies they might receive, there being nothing in the deed to import personal liability :-Held, that they were not personally liable to an attorney who had defended a suit relating to the business at the order of the trader, without any direction from them, unless there was anything in their previous communications with him to lead him to suppose they meant to make themselves personally liable for such claims ) Action for work and labour as an attorney Plea : never indebted (a) Collier got a rule for a new trial, which was argued in Easter Term, and both as to the mam point, whether ttie deed imported or admitted evidence of a reasonable notice, and also as to the damages On the first point, that the deed might imply a reasonable time, see Hyde v. Watts, 12 M. & W. 254. And that, even if it did not, yet as it was silent on the point, parol evidence would be admissible to explain theambiguity as to the word " notice," or to add a term not contradicting or altering anything in the deed, vide Carpenter v. Butter, 8 M. & W. 214 : Humphreij v. Dale, 26 L J., Q. B. 137 ; Smith v Battams, Ibid Exch 232. That the question of reasonable notice is for the jury, whether it means a reasonable time to do the particular act, or what is reasonable under all the circumstances, vide Goodwyn v. Cheveley, 28 L. J , Exch. 298. The Court appeared to be strongly of opinion that some reasonable notice was required, and that the rule to be laid down as to what was reasonable would probably be, the time necessary to enable the plaintiff to get the money ; and supposing him to be able to. do so, either by recourse to his bankers, or by borrowing it from a neighbour, it not being reasonable to expect that he would keep the money about his person, or even locked up in his house ; and the natural meaning of the word " notice," especially coupled with the words " left at the place of abode," &c., was, that was to be something beyond a mere demand, and to precede, by some reasonable time, the actual seizure of the goods, and what would be reasonable was for the jury But as they thought that the debt should be deducted from the damages, they...
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