257 Pa. 396 | Pa. | 1917
Opinion by
The discussion of this case has taken a much wider range than was necessary under the pleadings. The several questions touching the legal effect to be given the contract out of which the contention arises, and the reciprocal rights and obligations of the parties thereunder, all of which were so elaborately discussed, are not in any way involved in the issue presented. The one question in the case is, whether, under the terms of the particular contract we have to consider, and below in part recited,— whether it be a grant, or a lease or an option, — the grant- or or lessor is entitled to the intervention of the court to have the estate granted declared forfeited because of nonpayment at the appointed time of a stipulated quarterly
The refusal by appellant to accept the tender of September 5, 1912, is put distinctly on the ground that the tender was not made in time. This is itself a clear admission that up to that time the contract was a subsisting one. The learned court refused the prayer of the per titioner and dismissed the bill. The appeal brings before us the single question we have above indicated.
It is to be remembered that it was affirmative relief that was here sought, the enforcement of a forfeiture. Our cases recognize a clear distinction between a proceeding for the enforcement of a forfeiture and one asking for relief from forfeiture. Says Sharwood, J., in Oil Creek R. R. Co. v. Atlantic & Great Western R. R. Co., 57 Pa. 65, 72 — “He (the chancellor) exercises, upon the question presented, a sound discretion, under all the circumstances of the case, for the most part untrammelled by rule or precedent. If the bargain is a hard or unconscionable one, if the terms are unequal, if the party calling for his aid is seeking an undue advantage, he declines to interfere. Therefore it is that although a court of equity will not in general relieve against a forfeiture, unless it be in the case of nonpayment of rent, where an exact and just compensation can be made by decreeing to the landlord the arrears of his rent with interest and
The usual rule is that a lease must state the condition upon which a forfeiture can be declared, or no forfeiture can be declared: Vandevoort v. Dewey, 42 Hun. (N. Y.) 68. Other authorities might readily be cited of like tenor, but these given make it unnecessary to pursue the matter further. All we decide in the case is that appellant was not entitled to enforce forfeiture on the ground set up in this bill.
It follows that no error was committed, and the decree is, therefore, affirmed, and the appeal is dismissed.