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Showing contexts for: draft document in Abdulla Ahmed vs Animendra Kissen Mitter on 14 March, 1950Matching Fragments
The learned single Judge and the learned Judges of the Court of Appeal found otherwise on this part of the case in view of certain decisions of English Courts and a decision of a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court. In my opinion, none of those cases touch the present case. Unless the language of two documents is identical, an interpreta- tion placed on one document is no authority for the proposi- tion that a document differently drafted, though using partially similar language, should be similarly interpreted. In Hamer v. Sharp(1) Sir Charles Hall, V.C., considered the case of an authority of an agent for sale appointed by the owner of an estate. The document in that case was in these terms :--
Please note that this letter of authority will remain in force for a fortnight only to complete the transaction; after that this letter will stand cancelled."
The agent acting on this authority sold the property. On receipt of this letter the vendor informed the agent that he would not sell the land. On the acceptance of the agent a suit was brought for specific performance. Sir Asutosh Mookerjee who delivered the judgment of the Bench referred to the cases of Hamer v. Sharp (1), Prior v. Moore (2), Chadburn v. Moore (3), and also Rosenbaum v. Belson (4), and observed that it was well settled that an estate or house- agent, authorized to procure a purchaser, has no implied authority to enter into an open contract of sale, because the transaction mentioned is as specified in the letter, viz., to negotiate a sale after securing a purchaser. There is similarity in the language employed in the letter dealt with in this case and the letter of authority with which we are concerned; but read as a whole, the two documents are drafted with 'different intents and the true effect of both is not the same. There was no mention of the title being guaranteed by the vendor or of the sale being made free of encumbrances in that case. There was no evidence of sur- rounding circumstances or of the conduct of the parties. On the other hand, the plaintiff who was himself a solicitor realized the difficulties of the situation and endeavoured to alter the foundation of his claim. He conceded that as a broker he had no authority to sell the property and that he (1) 19 Eq. 108. (8) 67 L.T. 257, (2) 3 T.L.R. 624 (4) (1900) 2 Ch. 267.