113 Ga. 920 | Ga. | 1901
Land belonging to the estate of a decedent can be sold in this State only in the manner prescribed by law. If the decedent dies intestate, the land must be sold by the administrator. If the decedent dies testate, the land must be sold by the executor or •administrator with the will annexed in the manner provided in the
When the principles above stated are applied to the facts of the present case, a reversal of the judgment refusing to grant a new trial is the result. The evidence clearly shows that the administrator employed the person who cried the property as a mere crier, and did not confer upon him any authority as agent or attorney in fact to represent him. He was the mere mouthpiece of the administrator. When 'he attempted to close the sale and accept a hid from a person who had made an offer for the property, and the administrator’s attention was called to this, and acceptance of the bid as final promptly repudiated by him, no complete sale was made, for the simple reason that the offer of the bidder was never accepted by the administrator, and the two parties essential to a complete sale were wanting. The administrator could have accepted the bid if he had seen proper to do so, but he saw proper to refuse to accept the bid; and when he did this the sale was incomplete and the bidder was released. It was argued here.that because the bidder would have been bound to comply with the bid if the administrator had accepted it, therefore the administrator was hound to accept the bid. The fallacy of this reasoning is apparent. The bid was an offer to take the property at a certain price. If accepted, the sale was complete; if refused, there was no sale. The evidence shows that it was refused, and therefore the bidder was.
Judgment reversed.