26 Mo. 270 | Mo. | 1858
delivered the opinion of the court.
The defendant in this case, in the early part of September, 1854, borrowed of the plaintiff one hundred and twenty dollars to enable him to enter a tract of land, and was to have the money for twelve months, by giving a mortgage, upon the land when entered. There was proof that the land was entered and that the mortgage was not given when this suit was instituted, which was in August, 1855. Upon these facts the court declared the law to be for the defendant, and judgment was entered accordingly.
We think the plaintiff was entitled to his judgment. The contract for the mortgage was within the statute of frauds, and the promise of the plaintiff to wait twelve months was therefore without consideration. In McGowan v. West, 7 Mo. 569, it was held, that, where a note was given in consideration of a parol contract to convey land, in a suit upon such note the defendant could not plead in bar that the consideration was the parol contract, because it was at the option of the plaintiff to insist on the statute or not, and his suit upon the note might be constituted as a disclaimer of- the