161 Pa. 289 | Pa. | 1894
Opinion by
The plaintiff filed á bill in equity against defendant, to compel a conveyance to her of the legal title to Lot No. 88 in the Fourth ward of the city of Scranton. Both' the legal and
On March 29, 1887, the defendant paid into court the balance of purchase money and costs, as specified in the verdict. But James Gannon did not take the money out of court, and refused to file a deed. Thereupon this bill was brought to compel performance of the condition on his part. Defendant made answer, denying the jurisdiction of a court of equity to enforce the conditions of the verdict; alleging the verdict left it optional with him to file the deed, and further denying that the ejectment was an equitable one. The issue was referred to George S. Horn, Esq., as master, who, after hearing, reported on both facts and law for plaintiff, and suggested a decree in her favor. Exceptions being filed to his report by defendant, they were sustained by the learned judge of the court below, and from his decree comes this appeal.
The master’s report was set aside, because : (1) There was no sufficient evidence to sustain his finding that the suit resulting in the conditional verdict was an equitable ejectment. (2) The court being of opinion it was optional with defendant to file the deed required by the verdict, equity was without jurisdiction to compel a delivery.
The finding of the master that the ejectment was an equitable one is based mainly on the verdict itself. The verdict is : “ Now, to wit, 19th January, 1887, the jury find in favor of
It appeared that, by a mere clerical error, the name o,f Margaret Williams was inserted in the verdict by mistake for Margaret Gannon. By agreement of counsel at trial of the ejectment, it was admitted that an agreement for the sale of the lot betweenWilliam Sweetland and Margaret Gannon, the mother of defendant, was lost; the death of Patrick Gannon was suggested, and, also by agreement of counsel, Mary Riel was substituted as defendant.
An equitable ejectment in this state is a substitute for a bill in chancery to enforce specific performance of a contract for the sale of land. This verdict finds the amount of purchase money due on the contract between Sweetland and Margaret Gannon, this defendant’s predecessor in the possession; that James Gannon is the holder of the legal title ; that Mary Riel is in possession ; that she has a right to the possession, as against this plaintiff, on payment to the owner of the legal title, on or before the 1st of April following, the balance of the purchase money due Sweetland, and that on payment of this amount she has a right to the conveyance by plaintiff of the legal title. If a chancellor, after full hearing on bill and answer, had made a decree for specific performance, this verdict embodies every material part of such decree. The judge of the common pleas, who presided at the trial of the ejectment, sat as a chancellor, with a jury to aid him in finding disputed facts. Their finding was moulded into this verdict under his supervision. It has every essential element of a verdict in an equitable ejectment,
It is urged by appellee that plaintiff claimed and recovered on his legal title, and there is nothing to show that he had any contract with Mary Riel. Certainly, as appellee argues, he stood on his legal title; every vendor of land who has contracted to convey and who seeks to enforce his contract against a purchaser in possession must do so, or he has no standing at all. Nor is it necessary that one claiming the equitable title must show himself an immediate party to the contract of sale; he may establish his right to possession by showing the equitable estate of the first purchaser has become vested in him. The argument of appellee, that he never made a contract with the defendant for the sale of the lot, is without force. There is no allegation that he did. The plaintiff avers substantially, by setting out the verdict in her bill, that the contract was made by her predecessor in estate with William Sweetland, the man from whom, after the possession had passed, plaintiff took the legal title. This being the fact, when he took in his own name the deed for his mother’s land, he took it subject to the equitable estate already vested in the purchaser. He had the right to use it to enforce payment of the balance of purchase money. He did so use it, and the money has been paid into court. While in his answer to the bill, appellee denies any contract with Mary Riel, he does not deny Sweetland’s contract with Margaret Gannon for the lot, and that Mary Riel held under this contract. Therefore, he stands in just the position in which Sweetland would have stood, had he been plaintiff in the ejectment.
As to the jurisdiction of a court of equity to compel the execution of a deed which was made one of the conditions of a judgment in an equitable ejectment, Trefts v. King, 74 Pa. 350,
Therefore, as in this case, the verdict itself was sufficient to warrant the finding of the master that the suit was an equitable ejectment by plaintiff to enforce specific performance, and as equity had undoubted jurisdiction to make and enforce as against the vendor the conveyance of the legal title, the appeal is sustained. The decree of the court below sustaining exceptions to and setting aside report of master is reversed. The master’s report is approved, and his suggestion for a decree is adopted by this court. It is directed that, the record be remitted to the court below, that this order and judgment may be carried into effect. It is further ordered that appellee pay the costs of this appeal and the costs in the court below.