36 Conn. 296 | Conn. | 1869
On the 13th day of August, 1864, Amasa L. Hyde conveyed to the defendants, by deed poll, an easement in certain land owned by him. The deed contained this provision—“ And it is hereby understood and agreed that the said Elting Woolen Company” (the name of the defendants’ corporation at that time) “ shall remove the present river-wall some eight or ten feet easterly, on to a new line, as I, the said Amasa, may direct, and shall rebuild the same in a workmanlike manner the distance of one hundred and ninety-two feet, and shall also remove the earth lying between the old wall and the new wall, back behind the new wall, all at the sole cost and expense of the said corporation, their successors and assigns, and without any cost or expense to me, the said Amasa, my heirs and assigns forever.”
On the 30th of November following, Hyde conveyed the
On the 3d day of November, 1865, Hyde gave specific directions to the defendants as to the manner of doing the work, and requested them to do it immediately. In this direction and request the plaintiff concurred. On the 4th day of August, 1866, Hyde executed and delivered to.the plaintiff a written assignment of all his interest in the agreement; and on the 18th of the same month, the plaintiff’s attorney notified the defendants to remove and rebuild the wall, on or before the 29th of the month. The wall has never been removed. This court is asked to advise the Superior Court what judgment to render upon these facts.
That this provision in the defendants deed became, by force of their acceptance, a valid and binding contract on their part, is not denied. If, therefore, Hyde had remained the owner of the premises, and the action had been brought in his name, his right to recover would have been unquestionable. Townsend v. Ward, 27 Conn., 610 ; Hinsdale v. Humphrey, 15 Conn., 431; Newell v. Hill, 2 Met., 180.
The question for our consideration seems to be this: Will the conveyance by Hyde of the property on which the work was to be done, operate to discharge the defendants from their obligations to perform the work? We think not. The change of ownership placed the defendants in no worse condition than they were in before. The labor contracted to be done was the same whether done for one man or another. They had no more reason to complain than a debtor where the debt has been assigned by the creditor. Indeed the same principle applies. Hyde, so long as he remained the owner, had a clear right to have the work done. We fail to discover sufficient evidence of an Intention on his part to abandon or waive that right. Two circumstances are relied upon as evidence of such an intention, neither of which, nor both combined, under the circumstances are sufficient. The first is,
But it is said that Hyde, by his deed to Frazier, deprived himself of all interest in the contract, and the right to exact its fulfillment, and that there was therefore nothing for the assignment to operate upon. If this contract is to be governed by the same rules as covenants running with the land, then Hyde parted with his interest in it, and the purchaser acquired it by force of the deed. In that case the assignment was inoperative ; but that does not help the defendants, inasmuch as the plaintiff had previously acquired the right. If
In this opinion the other judges concurred.