66 Mo. 216 | Mo. | 1877
— The plaintiff' seeks to remove what he terms a cloud upon his title to a certain lot in the city of St. Louis, caused, as he claims, by a forged deed purporting to have been executed by himself to defendant, in' 1873. The answer denied plaintiff’s ownership or possession of the lot, and the forgery of the deed, &c. The court entered a decree for the plaintiff, which was reversed at general term, and on appeal to the court of appeals, the petition was dismissed, and the plaintiff appeals here.
1. We approve the action of the court of appeals in dismissing the petition, and for the following reasons': We regard the evidence greatly preponderating in favor of the genuineness of the deed of February, 1873, notwithstanding plaintiff swore he did not execute it, and was disabled physically from such execution, at the time the instrument
2. But there is another ground which must prove equally potent in precluding plaintiff of success, and this,regardless of the evidence adduced: He was not in possession of the lot in question. And authority is abundant to show that only when this is the case, can equitable interposition, as here prayed, be successfully invoked. The
Aeeirmeb.