8 La. 14 | La. | 1835
delivered the opinion of the court.
In this case, the plaintiff sues to recover from the defendants, certain tracts of land and their appurtenances, as described in his petition; and also a number of slaves and their increase, therein named. Judgment was rendered for
The cause was submitted to a jury, and on their verdict, the judgment of the court a quo was based.
The facts of the case are obscure and hidden, as generally happens where there exists a want of good faith and fair dealing in the parties concerned in a contract.
The evidence shows that the defendants, some time in 1832, made simulated sales of the premises in question, to one Phineas Gardner, for the purpose of obtaining, through his agency, a larger amount of stock in the Union Bank of Louisiana, than they could otherwise have done, according to the provisions of the charter. Thus it is seen that the first act giving rise to the present dispute, was done in fraudem legis. Not long after these sales, the purchaser made two acts under private signature, and delivered them to his vendors, acknowledging the simulation of the sales, and that the pretended price had been refunded to him. Gardner, at the time of purchasing was in tbe employment of the sellers, and resided on one of the tracts of land, as their overseer or manager. There seems to have been two acts of sale executed by the defendants to him; one dated on the 28th of July, and the other on the 11th of September, 1832, and the acts under private signature, have reference to both deeds of sale, but were not recorded until after the sale by Gardner to the plaintiff. Their character is disputed, whether they be counter-letters or re-conveyances. The act of sale from Gardner to Wells, is authentic, and made in due form, and conveys all the right which the vendor derived from the defendants.
The main question on which the decision of the case must .turn, is, whether the plaintiff1 knew at the time he purchased from Gardner, the defects of the title under which the latter held from the defendants, viz: that the contract was simulated and had been rescinded, or was liable to be rescinded in consequence of subsequent agreements between the parties. This question is one of fact, on which the jury had a right to pass; and whether they considered the private
It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the judgment of the District Court be affirmed with costs, &c.