123 Pa. 298 | Pa. | 1889
Opinion,
The plaintiff brought his action of ejectment to enforce the specific performance of an alleged contract made under the following circumstances. He claimed to have bought the land of H. P. Krebs, who purchased the land by virtue of the following receipt, to wit :
“ Pittsburgh, February 12,1887.
“Received from H. P. Krebs, Esq., one thousand dollars, being the first payment on account of five thousand dollars, the price to be paid me for a lot of ground fronting about 190 foot on the P. R. R. in the 21st ward, Pittsburgh, Pa.
(Signed) “ Thomas K. Davison.”
The plaintiff offered to show that the receipt was accompa
On the trial of the case the plaintiff offered in evidence the receipt, and the two drafts severally and together, with an offer to show by parol testimony that the land described in the receipt applies to the land described in the praecipe and writ. Also, that Davison had no other real estate in the Twenty-first ward of the city of Pittsburgh. Also, a tender of the balance of purchase money. The court rejected the evidence.
In this the court were right. The statute of frauds requires that such a sale of land as was attempted, must be in writing. It cannot be by parol. It is by parol if it requires verbal testimony to prove any essential part of it. In this case the land could not be identified or described without parol testimony. The receipt did not help the draft, nor the draft the receipt. One could have been made for one person, the other for another : the receipt could travel over any piece of land in the ward, and the draft could describe any part of a tract which might have been the subject-matter of negotiation. The two were in no way tied together, and to attempt to join them by parol evidence, would open the door which is shut by the statute. Among numerous authorities, we refer to Hammer v. McEldowney, 46 Pa. 334, and to the language of Lowrie, C. J., in Ferguson v. Staver, 33 Pa. 413.
The judgment in this ease is affirmed.