104 S.W. 804 | Ct. App. Ind. Terr. | 1907
(after stating the facts as above). That the confirmation of sale of a lease is a final order, not subject to be set aside by the court making the order of confirmation, even during the term at which it was made, except for a cause-which in equity would avoid a like sale between private parties, is decided by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in the case of Morrison et al. vs Burnette (at its May term, 1907) 154 Fed. 617. The court say: '-‘A successful bidder-under an order or decree of court at a sale which is subject to-confirmation bjr the court is a purchaser from the announcement of the sale to him by the officer, and may thereafter be compelled to complete his purchase. Before confirmation a sale-will not be set aside for mere inadequacy of price, unless it is very great; yet, if the inadequacy be great, slight circumstances-of unfairness in the conduct of the party benefited will be-sufficient to open it for farther bids. After confirmation of a judicial sale the rights of the purchaser have vested. Neither inadequacy of price nor offers of higher prices, nor anything but fraud, mistake, accident, or some other cause for which equity would avoid a like sale between private parties, will warrant a court in avoiding the sale or in opening it for other-bids.” As the sale of the lease in this case to the Eastern Oil' Company, the appellant, ivas, after confirmation, set aside on the sole ground of a higher price, the order was void, and the lease unaffected, and the sale afterward-made to appellee was void and conveyed no title.
But it is contended that the sale to appellant was void because the record does not show that the guardian, who executed the lease to appellant," had ever petitioned the court for an order of sale, or that a sale had been ordered by the court prior to the confirmation of the lease; and it is claimed that these are-both jurisdictional, and must have preceded the order of con
An effort is made in appellee's brief to show that 'the court might have exercised its discretionary powers and set aside the sale because there was a gross inadequacy of the appellant's bid, because of the fact that the bond required of the guardian upon the appellant's bid was $2,000, while that required by the appellee's bid was $13,250. The answer to this is that “Neither inadequacy of price nor offers of higher price * * ^ will warrant a court in avoiding the sale, or in opening it for other bids.” Morrison et"al. vs Burnette, supra.
For the reasons above stated it is our opinion that the court below was without jurisdiction to set aside the sale of the lease to appellant; and therefore the decree of the court below setting aside the order, confirming the sale of the lease to appellants, and ordering a resale, is reversed, and the cause remanded, with instructions that the petition of the ap¡Dellee be disallowed, and the order confirming the sale of the lease to appellant be the final order therein.