14 Minn. 424 | Minn. | 1869
By the Court.
The principal points of inquiry in this case are :
1. Whether the deed from Atwater to Pavitt was presumptively fraudulent, and whether for want of evidence on the part of Pavitt disproving a fraudulent intent, a trust resulted to the creditor of Hill, under our statute.
2. Whether the deed was fraudulent and void as against the plaintiff, as creditor of Hill, for actual fraud in the conveyance. Some other incidental questions will be considered as we proceed in the case.
It is a well settled doctrine under the statute of frauds, that where one man buys land and pays for it with his own money, and takes a conveyance in the name of another, a trust results by operation of law in favor of the person so paying the purchase money. Sugden on Vendors, 255.
It is also determined by the weight of authority that the trust in such case need not appear- on the face of the deed,
To bring this case within the statute therefore, the consideration of the conveyance to Pavitt'must have been paid by Hill.
The referee finds, among other things, that Atwater verbally agreed with Hill to sell and convey the premises to him, or to such person as he should direct, and that Hill paid him the purchase money, at the time of making the agreement ; that the title to the premises became perfect in At-water on the 18th of August, 1861 ; that afterwards, and during the pendency of the action, commenced on the 12th of IVIay, 1862, in which the judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Durfee, was recovered against Hill — no conveyance having ever been executed by Atwater — “ One Lucius A. Babcock, nephew of said Atwater, applied -to .said 1. P. Hill for authority to sell said lot No. 3, for said I. P. Hill’s benefit, and that said I. P. Hill authorized said Babcock to sell said lot, and gave said Babcock a writing directing the said Lucius Atwater to convey said lot 3, to whomsoever said Babcock should direct. * * * * That said Babcock bargained said lot to the defendant, Samuel N. Pavitt, for §200, andón the 9th of July, 1862, j>rocured a conveyance of said lot, by deed, from said At-water and wife to said Pavitt, by producing said writing from said I. P. Hill; that said Babcock delivered said deed to said Pavitt, and that on such delivery the said Pavitt paid said Babcock $200, the consideration before agreed upon ; that there is no evidence tending to show that at the time of this conveyance said Pavitt knew that said Babcock was acting in behalf of I. P. Hill, or that Hill was in any way
Upon this state of facts, the case, so far as the questions of a resulting trust in favor, of Hill’s creditors, and the pre
2. Was the deed to Pavitt void as to the plaintiff, a creditor of Hill, .for actual fraud in the conveyance ? In order successfully to invoke the aid of a court of equity on this ground, to subject the land in the hands of Pavitt, a purchaser for value, to the payment of the plaintiff’s judgment, it is necessary for the plaintiff to establish a fraud on the part of Hill, in which Pavitt participated, or of which he had notice prior to or at the time of the conveyance to him.
The referee finds that Atwater, so far as he was concerned, acted in entire good faith in the premises, and had no notice of any fraudulent intention on the part of Hill in the transaction, and there is sufficient evidence to. sustain
The plaintiff’s judgment therefore was not constructive notice to Pavitt at or before the time of his purchase.
We discover no evidence tending to show that Pavitt, at or before the conveyance to him, had any notice in fact of . the existence of the plaintiff’s judgment, or ot Hill’s insolvency, or of any indebtedness of Hill to the plaintiff, or any other person ; or that Pavitt was aware of any of the circumstances attending the attempt of the plaintiff to collect his judgment against Hill, or that there was any communication or intimation to Pavitt -of the intention of Hill or Babcock to hinder, delay, or defraud the plaintiff, or any one else, by the conveyance to Pavitt. It is true the presumption from the facts is that Pavitt knew the legal title to the lot was in Atwater, and was aware of Hill’s agreement with Atwater for the purchase of the lot, but circumstances of this character are of frequent occurrence, and there is nothing in them,_£>ór se, which ’indicates fraud, or is at all inconsistent with perfect integrity. The fact that the consideration of Hill’s agreement with Atwater for the lot was $700, and that Pavitt paid Hill but $200, cannot be regarded either as notice to Pavitt of fraud in Hill, or as a badge of fraud in Pavitt, for Pavitt’s agreement was made more than a year after Hill’s contract with Atwater, and no evidence was offered as to the value of the lot at the time of Pavitt’s pur
There is an entire absence of evidence to establish fraud in Pavitt, or bring to him any notice of fraud in Hill. Pav-itt therefore is a bona fide purchaser for value of the premises, and the plaintiff is not entitled to the relief sought as against him.
The judgment appealed from is affirmed.