75 Iowa 255 | Iowa | 1888
The defendants contend that, under the provisions of the will, the plaintiff has not the right to take the forty acres mentioned in the will at its appraised value, but that the will gives the plaintiff the first and prior right to purchase the tract at its appraised value, provided the other parties are not willing to pay more than that price for it. And the defendants, by their answer, offered to take the same at forty dollars per acre. Plaintiff claims that he offered, orally, to accept the forty dollars an acre in the court below, but that defendants refused to stand by their offer. This is denied by the defendants, and, it not being of record, we cannot notice it. But the averment of the ansv • stands, and plaintiff filed an offer in this court to accept forty dollars an acre, which is not accepted by defendants. About all that can be said of this feature of the case is that'it tends to show that the claim of defendants that the land is worth forty dollars an acre is not well founded.
We think the district court correctly construed the will. The clause in question plainly contemplates that in case there cannot be an amicable adjustment of the rights of the parties, resort must be had to a legal proceeding in which the land may be required to be appraised, and the provision is absolute that the parties shall have the right to purchase the forty acres in question “at the price at which it may be appraised.” There can be no mistake as to the meaning of this clause in the will. No one has the right to bid against the plaintiff for the land. His right to take it at the appraisement is absolute and unqualified.