Civil Model Jury Charge 4.20 TIME OF PERFORMANCE WHERE CONTRACT
IS SILENT
When a contract is silent as to the
time within which a promise is to be performed, the law will require it to be
performed within a “reasonable time.”
What is a “reasonable time” is a question of fact for you to determine
from the evidence. The question you must
decide is what reasonable time for performance the parties intended, bearing in
mind the subject matter of the contract, the surrounding circumstances, and
what the parties had in mind when the contract was made.
Cases and Commentary:
This charge is intended to be used
where performance promised is something other than payment of money. “Where no time for payment is expressed in a
promissory note or other instrument for the payment of money, the law adjudges
that the parties meant that the money should be payable immediately.” City of
Camden v. South Jersey Port Com’n, 2 N.J.
Super. 278, 299 (Ch. Div. 1949), aff’d and modified on other grounds, 4 N.J. 357 (1950).
I. MAY NOT BE A JURY QUESTION
“While the question is to what is a
reasonable time, depending as it does upon the surrounding circumstances, is
ordinarily for decision by the jury or fact-finder, yet when the facts are
undisputed and different inferences cannot reasonably be drawn therefrom, the
question is for the court.” Miller v. Zurich Gen. Accident and Liability
Ins. Co., 36 N.J. Super. 288, 296 (App. Div. 1955).
For support for the principles set
forth in the charge see West Caldwell v.
Caldwell, 26 N.J. 9, 28 (1958); Wemple v. B.F. Goodrich Co., 126 N.J.L. 465, 469 (E. & A., 1941); Corbin on Contracts, (1965) Sec. 96, p.
416; 17 Am. Jur. 2d, Title Time, Sec. 329, p. 764; 17A C.J.S. Title Contracts, Sec. 503 (1), p. 779.
