116 Tenn. 252 | Tenn. | 1905
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The facts in this cause, as found by the court of chancery appeals, are that the complainant, at the solicitation of his aunt, M'iss Cornelia Goodloe, abandoned lucrative employment and entered into her service upon an agreement that she would leave a will, giving to him a farm in
To so much of the bill as sought specific enforcement of the contract, the defendants replied the statute of frauds, and to the prayer for alternative relief, they interposed the statute of limitations of six years to that part of complainant’s claim which extended beyond that period.
The contract relied upon was one resting in parol, and was therefore unenforceable. It is true, as insisted by complainant’s counsel, that the weight of’ authority, English and American, is that part performance of a contract under the conditions disclosed in this record, will take the contract out- of the operation of the statute of frauds; but as early as Patton v. McClure, Mart. & Y., 333, it was held that partial performance of a parol contract for the sale and conveyance of land would not relieve from the application of the statute. This rule then established has since been applied in a great number of cases, so that it may now be regarded as a rule of property in this State.
Mr. Wood in the first volume of his work on Limitations (section 144), says: “Upon contract all classes, whether written or verbal, the statute begins to run from the time when a right of action accrues.” And we may add that a right of action upon a contract ordinarily ac-cures only at the time of the breach. Illustrating this principle, that author says, in section 160: “Where money has been paid under a contract that is void under the statute of frauds, because not in writing, the statute does not begin to run upon an action to recover it bade from the time when it was paid, but rather from-the time when the other party has done some decisive act evincing an intention to rescind the contract. Collins v. Thayer, 74 Ill., 138. Until that time no right of action exists; and, as the statute does not attach until a full, complete and present right- of action exists, it follows, of course,
If, in April, -1893, instead of agreeing to render services as a consideration for a devise or conveyance of the property, complainant had paid to Miss Goodloe a sum of money as the whole or part of the purchase money for the same, and she had died, as in the present case, nine years thereafter, without either making a deed or a will, as she had agreed to do, and her heirs had then repudiated the contract, because in parol, we think there can be no doubt but that the statute of limitations, as against a recovery of the money so paid, would only begin to run from the date of her death, and that neither administrator nor heir would be permitted to say, while repudiating her contract, that the complainant was not entitled to recover the amount of money so paid, because of the fact that more than six years had elapsed since the date of its payment. On principle, we can see no difference between the cases. But it is said the question is not an open one in this State.
In Byrn v. Fleming, 3 Head, 658, an effort was made by complainant to obtain satisfaction for services rendered by him and expenses incurred in the support of his father and mother for a number of years, upon an alleged contract made by him with his father, in which the latter undertook to compensate him by giving the complainant á tract of land at his death; but it was held
We are not satisfied with the dictum in Byrn v. Fleming, or the ruling in Taylor v. Wood, on the point in question, and those cases, so far as they conflict with the view expressed above, are overruled.
Other matters of controversy are discussed and disposed of by the court of chancery appeals, and while they have been considered by us, yet we do not deem it important to embrace them in this opinion. We are entirely satisfied with the conclusion reached by that court, and in all respects its decree is affirmed.