12 Colo. App. 106 | Colo. Ct. App. | 1898
This litigation grows out of transactions connected with, the purchase of the town site of the town of Goldfield in the Cripple Creek mining district. These transactions took place chiefly between the plaintiffs and defendant Bellows of the one part, and defendants Zang, Sigel, Sturm and Heath of the other part, and as these latter are of the defendants really the main parties in interest, we shall for convenience and brevity in
Upon trial the court of its own motion called a jury for advisory purposes, and submitted to them the following interrogatory, to wit: “Was the cancellation of the contract of May 14,1894, procured from the plaintiffs by fraud or decep
The term “laches” in its broad legal sense, as interpreted by courts of equity, signifies such unreasonable delay in the assertion of and attempted securing of equitable rights as should constitute in equity and good conscience a bar to recovery. The doctrine is founded upon the universally conceded justice and paramount importance of the proposition that the repose of titles and the security of property are manifestly promoted by fully acting upon the maxim, Vigilantibus, non dormientibus, jura subveniunt. A learned judge has aptly and beautifully said that this power as exercised by courts of equity is well symbolized by the emblem of Time, “who is depicted as carrying a scythe and an hourglass, that while with one he cuts down the evidence which might protect innocence, with the other he metes out the period when innocence can no longer be assailed.” No specific limit of time can be fixed within which the doctrine may be successfully invoked in courts of equity. It is not essential that such time should have elapsed as to make the statute of limitations effective. Mere lapse of time of itself, unless sufficient to operate as a statutory bar, may not- always be adequate, but when coupled with such conditions and acts of the parties as to indicate assent, acquiescence or waiver, it may. The two propositions of bar by length of time and bar by acquiescence, are not distinct, but constitute one proposition only. Lapse of time may be evidence of acquiescence of more or less weight according to the circumstances of the case, but as distinguished from delay, acquiescence imports conduct. It is proper, also, when the doctrine is invoked, for the court to consider the character and nature of the property interests
To summarize, in the determination of the question as to whether or not the laches of a party asking relief should constitute a bar to his recovery, a court of equity may and should consider not only lapse of time, but the acts and conduct of the party, if any, indicating either his assent to, or acquiescence in the acts of the opposing party of which he then complains, or a waiver of his rights, and the nature and character of the property interests involved and to be affected. These propositions of law are elementary, and need from us no citation of authorities. They are announced by all of the text writers, and have been recognized by the repeated decisions of the highest judicial tribunals in England and in the United States, during a period covering more than 100 years, — in fact, from the birth of equity jurisprudence. We content ourselves with a reference to a few decisions of the highest courts of this state, and of the United States supreme court.
In Hagerman v. Bates, 5 Colo. App. 402, Judge Bissell, in the course of an able opinion, said: “ When the foundations of our system of equity jurisprudence were first laid by the learned lawyers and the wise judges who were its authors, it was declared that whenever a party invoked the extraordinary powers of a court of equity to compel the specific performance of a contract, he must proceed with both diligence and promptness. These qualities were to be measured by
In Great West Min. Co. v. Woodmas of Alston Min. Co. et al., 14 Colo. 90, it was held that a delay of less than two years under the existing circumstances was sufficient to bar a recovery. In the opinion rendered by Justice Hayt, it was said: “ Prom the time the sheriff’s deeds were executed and delivered, in 1884, until this suit was commenced, in 1886, they permitted these defendants and their grantors to remain in the undisputed possession of the property without protest, permitting them to develop the same under the belief that they had acquired a good title thereto. * * * By the silence of plaintiffs they were lulled into purchasing and making expenditures upon this property that they otherwise might not have made, although it is true they ultimately made a profit as the result of the hazard incurred.
“Under these circumstances, we are to determine whether the court erred in dismissing the bill on account of the laches of the plaintiff. It is a familiar principle that courts of equity will only grant relief in cases in which the application therefor is made promptly and without unreasonable delay, whatever may be the merits of the controversy. The necessity for the application of this rule to cases in which the subject-matter of the litigation is the right to unpatented mining-property, the only value of which arises from the precious metals contained therein, is apparent. The value of such properties is always uncertain, and usually purely speculative. This case furnishes an illustration of the uncertainty of such values.”
In Oil Co. v. Marbury, 91 U. S. 592, Mr. Justice Miller, speaking of the necessity of more diligence being required in the assertion of rights where the property is of a speculative character, or may have 'a widely fluctuating value from natural causes, or from the exercise of the energy and courage of desperate enterprise, or from the expenditure of large sums of money, said, “ The injustice, therefore, is obvious, of permitting one holding the right to assert an ownership in such property to voluntarily await the event, and then decide, when the danger which is over has been at the risk of another, to come and share the profit.
“ While a much longer time might be allowed to assert this right in regard to real estate whose value is fixed, on which no outlay has been made for improvement, and but little change in value, the class of property here considered,
The case of the Great West Mining Co. v. Woodmas of Alston Mining Co. was cited approvingly by the United States supreme court in Johnston v. Standard Mining Co., 148 U. S. 360. This was a case from Colorado involving an interest in mining property, and the court said, inter alia, “Under such circumstances, where property has been developed by the courage and energy and at the expense of the defendants, courts will look with disfavor upon the claims of those who have lain idle while awaiting the results of this development, and will require not only clear proof of fraud, but prompt assertion of plaintiff’s rights.”
In Brown v. Wilson, 21 Colo. 314, the doctrine announced in the Great West — Woodmas case was reaffirmed, and the court said: “The laches that will bar a recovery in a particular case depend to a large extent upon the character and nature of the circumstances surrounding the transaction. Where the subject-matter of the litigation is unpatented mining property, purely speculative in value, the necessity for prompt assertion of title has always been recognized by the English and American courts.”
Applying these principles to the facts of the case at bar, we are clearly of opinion that the trial court did not err in its judgment of dismissal on the ground of laches of the plaintiffs.
On the very day of the cancellation of the agreement of May 14, defendant Bellows told the plaintiffs that he was negotiating with McIntyre, and that he thought he could interest him in the deal in place of the retiring parties. At their request he gave them twenty-four hours within which to find a party who would furnish the financial backing. Failing in this, Bellows closed the deal with McIntyre, and of this fact notified plaintiffs by letter to Weydemeyer of date June 15. The precise date at which the plaintiffs first
Weydemeyer testified that he first learned of the incorporation of the town company, and that the defendants were again enlisted in the scheme in connection with McIntyre and Bellows about the middle of August, 1894.
Schaufelberger testified that in August, or September, 1894, he learned that the defendants were again interested in the town site scheme, being so informed by defendants Bellows and Heath, at the office of the company on the town site; that he thereupon said to them that there was a little something coming to him yet, and they told him to go and pick out a lot, the best he could find, which he did; that after-wards he bought another lot for $360, and paid $1.00 on the purchase price; that in the fall of 1894 he had a talk with defendants Zang and Sturm and requested them to “release the lot ” which he had bought, so that he could secure it as the other, — without payments.
It hence clearly appears that for at least fifteen months prior to the institution of this suit, the plaintiffs had full knowledge of defendants’ interest in the town site enterprise, and of their relation to it, and that for some weeks prior thereto, —from about the time when defendants’ connection with the new enterprise commenced, — they had sufficient information and notice to have at least put them upon inquiry if they desired to assert any rights or claims in themselves. During all of this time, they made no effort to legally assert or enforce
There are other grounds properly before the court on assignments of cross-errors by defendants, upon which this judgment could and should be sustained, independent of the ques
Upon plaintiffs’ own showing, they were not entitled to the relief demanded, and there being no material error prejudicial to plaintiffs disclosed by the record, the judgment will be affirmed.
Affirmed.