Coffman v. Huck
Coffman v. Huck
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
'This case was before this court at our March term, 1854. It ■was reversed and sent back. The opinion then delivered is
In that opinion it is distinctly laid down that “ one who enters as a purchaser on lands is influenced by motives very different from those which actuate a tenant taking a lease at a certain rent, and he should not be chargeable as such when he loses his purchase without his fault. As not the least blame attached to the defendant’s conduct, and as there was no expectation of being charged as a tenant, he should be liable only for the profits he made on that portion of the land which really belonged to the plaintiff. So far as he was benefitted by the occupation, he was liable, and on no principle of law or justice should he be held to a more extended accountability.” The relation of landlord and tenant did not exist in this case. Nor will the principles of law recognized as existing between persons standing in that relation apply to this ease. “ The defendant Huck can only be held liable to the amount that he has been benefitted by the-occupation, as he has not paid the purchase money, and not for what a single witness may say was the annual value of the premises.” We again refer to our former decision, and say the principles in that must govern this case. We do not think the rule adopted by the referee was a proper one — that to compare the relative situations of Huck before and at the time he purchased, and seven years after when the contract was rescinded. Nor was the evidence of what persons supposed the annual rent of the mill ought to be worth the proper criterion to ascertain the benefit of the occupation. We can not pretend here to weigh the evidence, nor to say that any part of it was entitled to less credence than the rest. But taking it all to be worthy, we are compelled to doubt the correctness of the finding of the facts by the court.
We shall send the case back for a new trial, and direct that the evidence be confined to ascertain what the mill was worth
Let the judgment be reversed, and the cause remanded;
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