2 Rawle 97 | Pa. | 1828
The opinion of the court was delivered by
— Joseph Huston, the uncle of the plaintiff, and Dennis Springer, the father of the defendant, were tenants in common of a forge; and this action is brought to have an account
In the lease it was agreed that “ considerable new work and repair's must be done to the forge, such as roofing, and repairing the forebay and trunks; and also the hammer and bellows wheels, so far as may be agreed.on by Dennis .Springer and Joseph Huston; the expense of which repairs is- to be kept correctly and particularly by Jacob Springer: and the said Joseph Huston agrees to- discount out of the rent one half of such expense, provided it should not exceed the sum of one hundred and- eighty dollars in any one year: and the said Jacob Springer is to keep the said forge in good, tenantable repair during the said term-,, and at the expiration thereof, give up peaceable possession of the forge or premises, being the undivided half or moiety, to the said Joseph Huston.”
When the repairs were made, Dennis Springer was dead; so. that the defendant held the one moiety as a’ienant.in common, and* the other as the lessee of his co-tenant. And the first question is* whether he was entitled to contribution from his cb-tenant, or bound to repair at his,own cost, by forceof the covenant to keep the forge in good, tenantable repair.”
We are happily relieved', by the terms of the agreement, ¿román examination of those hard cases, in which it has been held that the lessee is bound to rebuild, if necessary,, where he has covenanted to repair, and deliver,up the premises in as good condition as when he obtained the possession. Perhaps there is no relief against an undertaking so positive and unequivocal'. But in this species of contract, as in every other, the intention is to govern. Here, then* there was no covenant- to redeliver the premises in good repair. There was a covenant for tenantable repair; but did the parties, by-this, contemplate any thing more than ordinary repairs, which-should become necessary by natural wear and decay within the term? Whatever.doubt might otherwise rest on their intention, is removed by their having, on certain conditions, provided for extraordinary repairs, rendered necessary by . wear and áeeny previous to the term; which would have been superfluous* had they intended to provide for them'by the words “ tenantable repair.” These extraordinary .repairs were designated by way of example, as “roofing,and repairing the forebay and trunks; and also the hammer and bellows wheels:” all of which are generically, and one of
The contribution demanded is, for new walls and a new roof; and hence a doubt whether the forge was repaired or rebuilt; and, if the latter, whether a tenant in common can compel his co-tenant to rebuild. The expense, however, was incurred clearly in repairs. A forge essentially consists of its wheels, hammers, drum-beam, furnaces, and bellows. The walls and roof are a mere shed, and constitute sp small a part of the cost, that no proprietor would hesitate to replace them, rather than abandon the business and sacrifice the capital invested in other parts of the stock. I have known a conflagration of the walls and roof suspend the operations of a forge but a few days. But the works consist of many other buildings, and capital is invested in various sorts of stock which could be employed in no other business. I should therefore.say, the reconstruction of a forge, entire, would’constitute repairs for which contribution would lie. It would seem, then, that these repairs were provided for only conditionally; and that as the condition on which the provision' was to take effect, has not happened, they stand as if no provision had been made. The consequence is, that the objection to contribution, on this ground, is not sustained.
A more matériaí inquiry is, whether, the right of contribution be a personal charge against the co-tenant, or a lien on the profits of his successor. The writ de reparatione faciendo, which lay at the common law, necessarily affected only the person of him who happened to be co-tenant when the repairs were to be made: and the modern remedy by bill in equity, I believe, goes' no further. There are, undoubtedly, liens which do not exist, at law, and of which equity alone can take cognizance; but no case can be shown where a tenant in common has been allowed to retain out of the profits that accrued after new parties had .intervened. ' .The only case that gives colour to the existence of a lien, under any circumstances, is Scott v. Nesbitt, (14 Ves. 143,) which involved transactions almost purely commercial.' On the ground of a supposed usage, peculiar to Jamaica, Lord Eldon, at first, expressed an opinion that supplies furnished to a West India estate, would give a claim against the estate itself; which he retracted on the coming in of the master’s report, which negatived the existence of any such usage. Still, however, he said the principle was, he thought, applicable to a species of landed estate even in England, which could not well be represented as mere landed property; as, for instance,
This decision of the principal point, renders a decision of the re-' maining one; unnecessary..
Judgment reversed, and judgment quod computet; the amount to be ascertained according to the agreement of the parties.