¶1It is the settled law of this State that when one person contracts to labor for another for a specified^ term and leaves the service of his employer before the expiration of such term without any cause proceeding from the employer, or the “ act of God,” he cannot maintain an action for the value of the services he has rendered. Posey v. Garth, 7 Mo. 94; Caldwell v. Dickson, 17 Mo. 575; Schnerr v. Lemp, 19 Mo. 40; Henson v. Hampton, 32 Mo. 408 2 Parsons on Contracts, 36, and note g. Eor the rule in the case of building contracts, vide Haysler v. Owen, 61 Mo. 270. As the circuit court, in the trial of this case, disregarded the rule of law applicable to contracts for personal service, its judgment will be reversed and the cause remanded.
73 Mo. 617
Earp v. Tyler
Decided April 15, 1881
Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1881-04-15
— Hon. J. D. Parkinson* J udge. This was an action to recover for farm labor. The evidence tended to show that plaintiff commenced work for defendant in March, under an agreement that he should continue until the last of October or the first of November following, that he worked until the 28rd day of June, or just before harvest, and then quit, without cause or excuse; • and that defendant had been damaged by his quitting.
Relies on Haysler v. Owen · Schnerr v. Lemp · Caldwell v. Dickson
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Reversed · Decided 1881-04-15
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently May 1914
17 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
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