Gaston, Williams & Wigmore, Ltd. v. Warner, 260 U.S. 201 (1922)

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Gaston, Williams & Wigmore of Canada, Ltd. v. Warner

No. 59

Argued October 13, 1922
Decided November 13, 1922
260 U.S. 201

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Syllabus

The Canadian owner of a British ship of a Canadian port made a contract in New York with W, a citizen of that state, authorizing him to offer the vessel for a specified price and agreeing to pay him a specified commission for securing a purchaser. W introduced purchasers with whom the owner agreed for a charter and sale at that price, the ship to be delivered and the price paid at New York, but, it subsequently appearing that the owner was bound by contract with, and regulations of, the British government not to sell without that government’s consent, which could not be obtained, the contract of sale was rescinded. Held, that W’s contract, made without reference to nationality or location of the ship or to foreign law, was governed by, and valid under, the law of New York, and that the owner’s disability to consummate the transaction was not a defense to W’s action for his commission, even if, under the British law, the contract of sale was void. P. 203.

272 F. 56 affirmed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals which affirmed a recovery by the respondent in his action against the petitioner for commission on the sale of a ship.