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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Kelleher v. Fong, 108 Me. 181 (1911)

Citation
Kelleher v. Fong, 108 Me. 181 (1911)
Parent Document
Kelleher v. Fong, 108 Me. 181 (1911)
Jurisdiction
Maine (state)
Effective Date
1911-04-03

Full Text

1,370 chars
The language of the last clause stipulating that the defendant may have the store as long as he wants it at $25 a month, reasonably admits of but one meaning and needs-no interpretation. In consideration of the preceding term expiring "the beginning of Spring” and the substantial increase of five dollars a. month-thereafter, the defendant was to have the right, and .privilege, at his option, to have the store as long as he wanted it. The in Erument was complete in itself and comprised the stipulations for both terms. No formal renewal by a second written instrument was contemplated by the parties. The agreement operates as a lease in futuro of the additional term. Only the lapse of the preceding term and the election of the defendant were required to render it a lease in presentí. The defendant’s continued occupation of the store at the *189expiration of the first term and for six years thereafter and the payment of the increased monthly rent, affords ample evidence of his election. It would be a contradictory interpretation, destructive of the plain and ordinary meaning of words and of the obvious intention of the parties, to hold that the defendant had the option to continue his occupation of the store as long as he wished after the expiration of the first term, and at the same time that the plaintiff had the option to prohibit him from so doing.