Nathan Clifford

“ On the eighth day of June, 1855, the plaintiffs wrote to the defendants, referring to that clause in the charter providing for an advance, and suggesting that they had been induced to make the charter at the solicitation of their agents, upon the assurance that they should receive every advantage from any rise in freight, and expressing their astonishment at learning that they did not intent to pay more than at the rate of twenty-five dollars per ton, and signifying at the same time their willingness to listen to any fair proposition the defendants had to make. ”

“ These facts present strong presumptive evidence of authority, fully warranting the court in submitting the question to the jury.
2. The second ground assumed by the defendants, under this proposition, is, that the declarations and statements of their agents ought to have been excluded, for the reason that parol evidence is not admissible to explain, vary, or contradict, a written contract. That principle, as a general rule applicable to parties and privies, and their representatives, and those claiming under them, is undeniable, and is not disputed by the counsel of the plaintiffs. ”

“ Prayers for instruction were then made by both parties-first by the plaintiffs, and then by the defendants. Those presented by the defendants were made the subject of exception. They are eight in number, including the one embraced in the third bill of exceptions; but inasmuch as we have come to the conclusion that the instructions given by the court cover the whole controversy between the parties, they will not be specifically examined ”

“ Their rights being made to depend upon the subsequent transactions of the defendants with third parties, it was clearly proper to admit proof to show what those transactions were.
Several courts and text writers have stated the principle much broader than it is here laid down. The rule excluding parol proof in such cases, says Mr. Greenleaf, cannot affect third persons ”