178 Ga. 16 | Ga. | 1933
The following contract was entered into on December 22, 1932, between Mrs. Zona Byers of the one part, and Mrs. S. S. Gabrell and S. S. Gabrell, of the other part:
“This memorandum of agreement witnesseth: 1. That Mrs.
Upon the failure of the purchasers, Gabrell and his wife, to make
As a general rule, the remedy of a decree for specific performance relates only to real estate, and is not applicable to personalty. So the cardinal rules which apply to the remedy of specific performance are applied with greater strictness where personalty is concerned than where realty is involved. In the case at bar the contract, including both real estate and various species of personal property, is entire and indivisible, so far as the remedy by decree for specific performance is concerned. There seems to have been no question that the land to be purchased by the respondents is sufficiently described; but if the remedy afforded by a decree for specific performance is the right of the plaintiff in this case, it must include the personalty as well as the real estate, for there is no stipulation or statement in the contract from which the valuations of the real estate and the personal property can be ascertained. The total purchase-price is $10,000, but it can not be as
In Carolee v. Handelis, 103 Ga. 299 (29 S. E. 935), this court held: “As a general rule, equity will not decree specific performance of contracts relating to personal property. In order to sustain a bill for the specific performance of such a contract, it is necessary to allege some good reason in equity and good conscience to take the case out of the general rule above stated. In the present case no such reason was alleged or proved.” In delivering the opinion of the court Mr. Chief Justice Simmons said: “It will be seen that this was an effort on the part of the plaintiff in error to have specific performance decreed of a contract for the sale of personal property. Section 4036 of the Civil Code declares that ‘Specific performance of a contract (if within the power of the party) will be decreed, generally, whenever the damages recoverable at law would not be an adequate compensation for the non-performanced As a general rule, a court of equity will not decree specific performance of a contract relating to personal property, for the reason that, generally, in a suit at law for damages, adequate compensation can be awarded for the violation of such contract. Where breach of the contract can not be adequately compensated at law, a court of equity will as readily decree specific performance of a contract relating to personal property as it would if the contract related
In the case at bar it is not alleged that the defendants are insolvent and that damages could not be recovered. It is not alleged that the particular articles to be sold were so unique or peculiar, or heirlooms, as to give them a value in excess of their intrinsic worth. One reason assigned is that the vendor, the defendant in error, had
In our opinion that decision is controlling of the principles applicable to specific performance where personalty is involved, and for the reasons which have already been stated the court erred in overruling the .demurrer and in not dismissing the petition.
Judgment reversed.