Woodson v. Hubbard
Woodson v. Hubbard
Opinion of the Court
— This was a. suit brought before a justice of the peace, by the plaintiff, against the defendant on the following account:
‘•'•John W. Hubbard, in account with Richard Woodson.
“1887. Dr.
“December 31. To amount due for ties sold.............................$800 00
‘ ‘ Cr. by cash on same................ 754 33
“Total balance due $ 45 67”
The defendant demurred to the evidence, on the ground, first, “that standing timber being part of the realty a conveyance of it is the conveyance of an interest in land, and to be effectual must be under seal; second, that the evidence discloses the fact that title to
I. We do not think that the circuit court erred in overruling the defendant’s demurrer as to the first ground. Whether the defendant under the contract acquired a license or an easement, it is»not necessary to decide. The contract conferred upon the defendant, at least, a license to enter upon plaintiff’s land, and cut and remove the tie timber thereon. In consideration of this grant the defendant bound himself to pay the plaintiff $800 in any event. The defendant has enjoyed the benefits of the contract. It is no longer executory. Now after defendant has, under the contract, entered upon plaintiff’s land and cut and removed all the tie timber he cared to, can he be exonerated from the payment of the consideration for the enjoyment of the license so granted to and exercised by him, on the bare ground that the contract was not under seal as required by the statute? R. S., sec. 2401. We cannot think so. He has received the full measure of the benefits granted to him under the’ contract. He does not, and cannot in the very nature of things, put the plaintiff in statu quo, nor restore the timber which he has cut down and removed. The contract was not even within the statute of frauds ;■ and even if it were it has been so far performed that he is in no situation to dispute the plaintiff’s right to recover the stipulated consideration for the license enjoyed. Brown on Statute of Frauds, secs. 117, 127 Harvey v. Morris, 63 Mo. 475; Tatum v. Brooker, 51 Mo. 148; Walker v. Owen, 79 Mo. 563. The defendant is estopped by every just principle of right to dispute the binding validity of the contract, whose benefits and advantages he has enjoyed. The contract expressly and plainly provides that the defendant would pay the plaintiff $800 for the right to enter
If the contract in question were executory, and the controversy arising on it was between the plaintiff and a party claiming under the defendant, the right to enter upon plaintiff’s land and cut and remove said tie timber, or was between an assignee of the defendant and one who had by purchase and deed for valuable consideration acquired the plaintiff’s title to the said timbered land without notice of the said contract, it might be that there the question presented by the demurrer would arise ; but since this suit is for the consideration agreed, in the contract, to be paid for the timber which has been cut and removed by the defendant no such question arises. No question of the assignment of an executory license, or of a personal trust, arises in this case. The questions considered and decided in Potter v. Everett, 40 Mo. App. 152, and in Andrews v. Costican, 30 Mo. App. 29, were different from these in this case. In neither of those cases was the action for the consideration for the grant of a license which had been
II. The second ground of the defendant’s demurrer was, we think, properly overruled. The title to real estate was not drawn in issue in the trial of the case. R. S., sec. 6124. The claim of the plaintiff is not for the-tie timber still remaining unsevered on plaintiff’s land. It is for the balance of the consideration due for the timber cut and removed. It is for the balance of the $800 consideration which the defendant bound himself ‘by his contract to pay for the tie timber which he cut and removed. Plaintiff makes no claim for the tie timber still remaining uncut and which the defendant might have cut and removed. The defendant evidently misconstrues the plain, and obvious meaning of the contract. It is for the balance due on the executed contract that the suit was brought. The exposition of the contract already made in the preceding paragraph very clearly shows this to be so. For these reasons we think that the title to land was not involved in the suit. The action was one over which the justice had jurisdiction.
It results that the judgment of the circuit court will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.