5 W. Va. 547 | W. Va. | 1871
The appellant, William Cady, filed a bill in equity in the circuit court of Wood county against the appel-lee, Edmund L. Gale, and his wife Mary Gale, to enforce the specific performance of a contract in writing between them for the sale of a certain tract of land in Ritchie county. The contract is dated the 3d of October, 1859, signed and sealed by the parties: whereby the said Gale and wife, in consideration of fifteen hundred dollars, the receipt of which is acknowledged, bind themselves to execute and deliver to the said Cady, within six months from the date thereof, a good and sufficient warranty deed for two hundred and fifty acres of land in Ritchie county, Virginia, off of the northwest corner •of a certain tract of two thousand acres, which had been conveyed to the said Mary Gale by Walter Keeler and wife in 1854. There is also a memorandum in writing dated 19th of December, 1860, endorsed on the contract signed by all the parties to it, whereby it is stipulated between them, that the provisions of the contract should be extended to the first of June following. The bill alleges that the contract was executed in the town of Joliet, in the State of Illinois, where all the parties to it then resided, and that the complainant, at the time, was advised and believed he could, under the laws of Virginia, enforce the contract and compel a conveyance for the land from Mary Gale as well as her husband. But being ‘surprised to learn afterwards that the contract could not be
At a subsequent term of the court, the bill was dismissed as to Mary Gale, at the instance of the complainant, and at his costs. Subsequently an amended bill was filed with the same allegations contained in the original bill, and alleging further that while the complainant had fully complied with the contract on his part the defendants, Edmund L. Gale and Mary Gale and each had wholly failed and refused to comply with or execute the contract, in whole or in part; that complainant paid the full value of the premises in dispute, and that’since the time fixed for the execution of the deed for the land, valuable discoveries of oil, &c., had been made under the surface of the premises, and that the defendant, Edmund L. Gale, had made numerous and profitable leases of parts of such premises, and received large sums of money by way of bonus for the same, and also received as royalty or rent a certain portion of the oil that might be obtained under them. Said Gale is made a party defendant and required to answer and make a full and particular discovery as to the number of leases, the amount received by him as a bonus thereon, or for royalty, the amount of the latter reserved on such leases, and that he be decreed to pay and account to complainant for all sums of money and oil received on account of said leases; to assign and deliver the same to complainant and also execute and deliver a deed for the land in controversy, and for general relief. The answers of Edmund L. Gale to the original and amended bill admit the execution of the contract at the time-alleged. Also the birth of children as alleged, and that no deed had been executed for the land in dispute, but denies that the complainant paid a consideration of $1,500, and avers-
After an attentive examination of the cases, as well of the authorities as of the facts appearing in the record, I am unable to concur in the conclusions arrived at by the learned judge of the circuit court. But, with all respect, it seems to me the reasons assigned'in support of his conclusions are in
It appears that the patent, (the right for which for the State of West Virginia was assigned to Mrs. Gale as the consideration for the land now in controversy,) issued to the appellant more than two years before the contract was entered into; and that in the meantime the appellant and others had been engaged in manufacturing and vending machines made under this patent, in the neighborhood of Joliet, where the parties to the contract then resided. It is but reasonable to assume, therefore, that the appellee was acquaiuted with the right which was so purchased, while no misrepresentation, concealment or fraud on the'part of the appellant, is shown. And it moreover appears, that fourteen months after the date of the contract, and after the appellee had been engaged in the sale of machines manufactured under said patent — which machines, it appears, he recommended to be good, he reaffirmed the contract, by entering into the written memorandum endorsed on it, stipulating for further time'for a compliance with it on his part Therefore the thing sold by the appellant and purchased by the appellee and wife, being the right to sell such patent right, and to make and sell machines under it, within the'State of Virginia, it is wholly unnecessary to go into the question, so much discussed, of the-valué of the machines that may have been manufactured and sold under the patent referred to in the testimony in the cause, nor is it material to inquire into the question of the adequacy of consideration; but I will add that if such an inquiry was necessary, it is clear from the proofs, that the right so assigned was, in fact, worth much more than the land, at the date of the contract.
Regarding, then, the contract as a fair one and founded on adequate consideration, nothing is seen in the peculiar circumstances now surrounding the case, that should prevent a
It is very evident from the testimony, that this great appreciation of the premises, since the contract, is the real key to the defence now being made, for one of the appellee’s own witnesses, states that he was informed by the former, that he had traded some Virginia lands for the patent right, but as the land had since increased so in value, he wanted to prove that the machines were of no benefit to him.
The question of the hardship of a contract is to be referred to the time of making it. Fry on S. Perform, and authorities referred to. The contract in this instance, involved no hardship whatever when it was entered into, and it is well settled that courts of equity will not withhold their aid to enforce such contract, merely because of the great appreciation or depreciation of the property sold, from causes which were un
It is also assigned as a reason against the performance of the contract in this case, that it would necessarily result in great injury to third parties now interested in the premises in controversy. But it is not perceived, how such consequences would follow. The appellant will take no more interest than the appellee had in the premises, and will stand in his shoes, with reference both to the lessees, whose leases now cover the entire premises, and the remainderman, Mrs. Gale, and can have no greater rights and privileges, as against the latter, than the appellee himself could exercise. My conclusion therefore is that the decree should be reversed with costs; the appellee decreed to convey his interest in the land in controversy, to the appellant, the cause remanded to themir-cuit court for further proceedings, and that an account of the rents and profits be there taken in accordance with the prayer of the bill. ,
Decree reversed.