42 Minn. 194 | Minn. | 1889
This is an action by the vendor to compel the specific performance of a contract for the sale of land. The contract is set out in the record, and among other provisions contains the following : “Time is made an essential condition of this agreement, in that if the said vendee shall fail to make payment of the balance of the above-named $1,350 at the time above specified after date of fur
The defendant’s contention upon these facts is that by reason of its own default the contract and all its unfulfilled obligations were terminated by force of the stipulation in question, not only at the •election of the vendor, but of the vendee as well. But it is obvious that this is not the correct interpretation of the contract. Apart from the effect to be given to the clause making time essential, equity might have relieved defendant from its default or failure to comply with the strict terms of the contract, on a proper showing of good faith and diligence, because it had acquired an equitable interest in the land which the court might interfere to protect, since forfeitures are not favored. And so the plaintiff, having also a subsisting right to enforce the defendant’s obligations under the contract, which was not a mere option extended to defendant, may at his election waive the strict terms of such stipulation, which was obviously intended for his own benefit, and to be obligatory only upon the defendant. A party who has entered into an obligation to pay will not be permitted to set up his own voluntary default to defeat the same, unless such intention clearly and unequivocally appears, in which case the contract would become a conditional one, or be turned into a mere option. 'The purpose of these strict provisions was undoubtedly to insure a
Order reversed.
