86 P. 767 | Utah | 1906
1. This action was brought by plaintiff and respondent against the executor of the last will and testament of William J. Lloyd, deceased, to have decreed a specific performance of a parol agreement or gift of land. Upon findings made by the court a decree was rendered in favor of plaintiff, from which the defendant prosecutes this appeal.
It is alleged in the complaint that the plaintiff was a niece of the deceased, that she had married his son; that for the last 21 years of his life the deceased was unmarried; that prior to July, 1891, tire plaintiff did acts of kindness for the deceased, and that in consideration thereof, and in consideration of future obligations on the part of plaintiff, “to wit, that she would continue to' attend to his wants and assist him,” the deceased, in July, 1891, “said to her that he would give her the lot which she now occupies [fully described] ; that the said terms of the contract were accepted by her and her father-in-law as a promise to convey for the services she had done and for the services that she was to do, and the said deceased said to her: ‘Move in, take possession, and repair and fix it up. It is yours. I want to retain the title until I die, but it shall be yours from this on’ — thus making a contract the consideration of which was that the plaintiff should protect and look after said deceased and that he should provide her with that home and property and deed it to her or will it to her.” It was further alleged that plaintiff had washed and mended clothes for the deceased, and had made bread and cooked for him, and that she had fully complied with the contract on her part; that she and her husband had moved upon said premises and had expended $2,000 thereon in improving the same, and that the plaintiff had furnished the deceased money with which to pay the taxes each year; that when the will of the
It will be observed that in the complaint plaintiff’s right to have specific performance of the conveyance is grounded upon a contract of promise of the deceased to convey the land in consideration of services rendered and to be rendered by the plaintiff, while the findings and conclusions gave plaintiff such right alone upon the fact of a verbal gift ratified by
2. This case, however, being one in equity, we have concluded to review the evidence to ascertain if it is sufficient to justify findings in harmony with and responsive to the complaint, and sufficient to support the judgment. The evidence shows that the plaintiff married the
There is also testimony, on behalf of plaintiff, showing tbat between the years 1891 and 1908 there was placed on the premises a sbedlike bam, 16x16, with slanting board roof, and built out of common lumber, and valued at from $45 to $90; chicken coops valued at $20; about 12 1-2 rods of Burton-Gardner lath and wire fence, 10 rods of picket fence, and about 125 feet of wire netting fence, all valued from $100 to $200. As to some of the fencing the evidence is not certain as to whether it was placed upon the premises and paid for by plaintiff and her husband, or by the deceased and others.
8. It of course is readily conceded that a verbal gift or parol agreement to convey land is- within the statute of frauds, and at law a nullity.. (Comp. Laws 1888, section 2881 and section 3918, subd. 5; Rev. St. 1898, section 1974.) However, the doctrine has long been established that k verbal agreement, if part performed, can, notwithstanding the requirements of the statute, be enforced by a court of equity. But the foundation of the doctrine is fraud inhering in the consequence of setting up the statute. The rule is well stated by Pomeroy in his work on Specific Performance of Contracts (page 144):
“When a verbal contract has been made, and one party lias knowingly aided or permitted the other to go on and do acts in part performance of the agreement, acts done in full reliance upon such agreement as a valid and binding contract, and which would not have been done without the agreement, and which are of such a nature .as to change the relation of the parties, and to prevent a restoration to their former condition and an adequate compensation for the loss by a legal judgment for damages, then it would be a virtual fraud in the first party to interpose the statute of frauds as a bar to a completion of the contract, and thus to secure for himself all the benefit of the acts already done in part performance, while the other party would not only lose all advantage from the bargain, but would be left without adequate remedy for his failure or compensation for what he had done in pursuance of it. To prevent the success of such a palpable fraud, equity interposes under these circumstances, and compels an entire completion of the contract by decreeing its specific execution.”
The principle as stated by Pomeroy is the established doctrine. (Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. [3 Ed.], section 1409; 2 Story, Eq. Jur. [13th Ed.], section 761; Glass v. Hulbert, 102 Mass. 34, 3 Am. Rep. 418.) It is also well settled that acts done prior to the contract, since they are neither in pursuance nor in the execution of it, are never a part performance upon which to base a specific performance of the agreement by a court of equity; that the contract must also be complete and certain in its terms; and that
*97 “This element of completeness must exist in every contract which •can be specifically enforced, whatever he its external form, whether written or verbal, whether embodied in the memorandum required by the statute of frauds, or rendered obligatory by part performance, or by any ■other act which may obviate the prohibitions of that statute.” (Pome-roy, section 145.)
It is also the rale that the making of valuable, or substantial, or beneficial improvements by the donee in possession, or the doing of other analogous acts'whieh would render a revo■cation and refusal to complete inequitable, is essential to the •enforcement of a parol gift of land. It is also essential that the parol agreement or gift should be established by clear, unequivocal and definite testimony, and the acts claimed to be done thereunder, should be equally clear and definite and referable exclusively to the contract or gift.
Tested by these principles we are clearly of the opinion that the evidence is insufficient to justify a decree granting to the plaintiff a legal title to the property. While some of the evidence shows merely a gift in future, there is considerable and persuasive testimony that the deceased, on different occasions, and to different persons, spoke of the property in question as belonging to the plaintiff and that he had given it to her. But such acts are not sufficient to justify a court of equity in decreeing a conveyance of the property. Equity will not enforce a mere voluntary agreement or mere parol gift of land. In addition thereto equity demands a valuable consideration, and also a showing that in consequence of the gift the donee has done something, whereby a refusal to grant specific performance is not merely a denial of rights which were intended to be conferred, but is an infliction of an injustice upon him. Conceding that the evidence shows a promise on the part of the deceased to convey or will the property to plaintiff, or that he had made a parol gift of it to her, we look in vain for any evidence as to the terms, scope, and com ditions of, or consideration for, the promise or gift. Yet the authorities are unbending that a court of equity will not decree specific performance of a parol agreement or gift of land, when the contract lacks certainty and completeness and when
“Here is at once the promise and the consideration for it, amounting to an agreement stated in Mr. Kenyon’s [the deceased’s] own language, with all the clearness of detail necessary to a contract.”
While it is not essential that all the elements of a contract should be detailed as having been formally declared or expressed by the parties, yet from all the facts and circumstances as disclosed by the evidence the chancellor must be able to read sufficient terms and conditions to' malm- a definite' and complete contract and one founded upon a valuable consideration.
Looking into the evidence with reference to improvements made as a basis for a consideration and part performance, we are of the opinion that the improvements are not of such value or character as to take the case out of the operation of the statute. Furthermore the evidence does not satisfy us with that clearness and persuasion required by the authorities that they were made in consequence of a gift, or in pursuance of a promise to convey, or that they are otherwise referable thereto-. Indeed, there is little or no direct evidence proving such fact, nor is there any circumstance from which it may reasonably be inferred. B'ecause of their general character such fact cannot fairly be inferred from the mere circumstance of the improvements having been made. Generally speaking, the improvements, especially the papering of the rooms, the inside painting, much of the fencing, the chicken coops, and the like, are not such as have a substantial or permanent character, or as are beneficial to the freehold; but they are such as are merely for the ordinary convenience and comfort in the use and occupation of the premises. They are no more than might ordinarily have been made by a tenant at will, and are as consistent with -some interest in the premises less than a freehold as with an estate in freehold. There are also authorities- to the effect that where the improvements do not exceed the rental value of the premises
But it is strongly urged that a gift followed by actual possession is sufficient to constitute part performance, without valuable or any improvements having, been made. From the conclusions of law made by the trial court, this view seems to have been adopted by it. Possession of land, under a verbal contract founded upon a valuable consideration, when delivered to the vendee or taken by him with the knowledge and consent of the vendor, may, in some instances constitute a part performance, such as where the relations of the parties have been so altered as to prevent their restoration to their former condition, and that it'would be a virtual fraud to allow the defendant to interpose the statute as a defense, and thus to secure to himself the benefit of what has been ,done in part performance or to inflict an injustice upon the vendee.
“Possession alone is not sufficient. A parol gift of land, even from father to son, will not be enforced unless followed by possession and by valuable improvements made by the donee, or unless there are some other special facts which would render the failure to complete the donation peculiarly inequitable and unjust. This rule, however, has no connection with the statute of frauds. In order to grant its remedy of a specific execution, equity requires a valuable consideration — it never enforces a voluntary agreement. The statute of frauds is satisfied by possession as a part performance, and the general doctrines of equity demand, in addition thereto, a valuable consideration. This latter demand is answered by the outlays, expenditures, and labors of the donee in making the valuable improvements as a consequence of the gift.” (4 Pom. Eq. Jur. (3d Ed.), section 1409; Harrison v. Harrison, 36 W. Va. 556, 15 S. E. 87; Wooldridge v. Hancock, supra; Lightner v. Lightner (Va.), 23 S. E. 301; Roberts v. Mulliner, 94 Ga. 493, 20 S. E. 350.)
Upon a careful consideration of the whole case we think the evidence is insufficient to justify a decree granting the legal title of the premises to’ plaintiff. Of this ease it may well be said, as was said by the court in Zallmanzig v. Zallmanzig (Tex. Civ. App.), 24 S. W. 944:
*101 ' “All the facts in the case are consistent with the assumption that there was merely a desire upon the part of the father to provide a home for his children, and that, -without giving them any title to the land, he gave them permission to live on the land. In order to ingraft this exception onto the statute of frauds, which requires that a conveyance of lands must he evidenced by a memorandum in writing there should, in addition to the fact of possession and making of improvements, he clear and conclusive' proof of the contract, its scope and terms. The object of the statute of frauds is to prevent the transfer of titles to lands ‘on loose and intermediate proofs of what ought to he established by solemn written contracts.’ (Taylor v. Ashley, 15 Tex. 50.) In order to sustain a verbal contract for the sale of land, of course, it is absolutely necessary to prove the verbal contract either by direct or circumstantial evidence; and this must be accompanied by proof of possession and strong equities independent of'the contract.”
And in Buhler v. Trombly (Mich.), 102 N. W. 647:
“Here we do not find any agreement — any contract — to have been made. Considered in the light of complainant’s own testimony, there was an act of bounty, merely, on the part of the father, which complainant naturally, and to his profit, was willing to accept; and, as has been already stated, it does not appear that he agreed to do anything, or ever did or refrained from doing anything, ever, in any way, changed his condition or circumstances, was induced to forego any benefit or assume any liability, because of or relying upon the promise of the father.”
Though it were conceded that all the allegations of the complaint with respect to the promise of contract had been established by sufficient evidence, the necessary and most essential allegation, that the plaintiff by reason of the gift or promise, and in reliance on1 its execution, did or refrained from doing anything, or was induced thereby to change her condition or circumstances, or to forego any benefit, or to as> sume any liability, or that her status or relation had been so far altered that not to enforce a performance of the promise or gift perpetrates a fraud upon or inflicts- an unjust and unconscionable injury and loss to her, is not established by sufficient évidence. She has shown no such strong equities as are required by the authorities, and which are required to be shown independent of the parol gift or verbal contract.
Courts of equity, in establishing the doctrine invoked by plaintiff, have not, by any means, intended to annul the statute of frauds, but only to prevent its being made the means
The judgment of the court below is therefore reversed, and the case remanded for a new trial. Costs to be taxed against respondent..