Brantley v. Wolf
Brantley v. Wolf
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
On the 6th of June, 1872, Mrs. Hattie A. Brantley, then in the seventeenth year of her age, in conjunction with her husband, sold to one Harrison, a lot in the town of Grenada, for the sum of $300 cash in hand paid. Harrison, having first built upon it, sold the lot to complainant Wolf, against whom Mrs. Brantley, having now come of age, has brought ejectment
Thus, in the case then before us, deeming from the record that Miss Robbins (Mrs. Bobo), while a minor, intentionally and knowingly conveyed her property to her father for the purpose of enabling him to borrow money and thereby of defrauding the lender by a subsequent assertion of her own right of disaffirmance, we declared that a court of equity would intervene in any manner necessary to prevent the carrying out of such a scheme. But when it was suggested by counsel, that though the record seemed to wear this aspect, no such view of the case had been presented in the court below and no proof had been taken with regard to it on either side, and, that in point of fact, it was not true, we remanded the case, with leave to take proof on this subject.
But it is said that she stood by and permitted her vendee to build upon the lot, and subsequently suffered the present owner to acquire title without giving notice of her claims. The proof does not bear out these charges. She left the town in a few days or weeks after the sale, has never returned to it, and most of her subsequent life has been spent in other States.
She knew nothing of the erections made upon the lot, unless she saw the commencement of those built immediately after the sale, and this would no more estop her than the sale itself.
The question of her obligation to account for the value of the improvements, in the event of a recovery, is not before us.
It is insisted that she delayed too long the assertion of her rights, and is estopped by her silence. The suit was brought in about two years after she attained majority, and certainly, in the absence of some exceptional circumstances, her action was sufficienty prompt, since no new element of estoppel intervened ; for although the present owner bought during the interval, she was ignorant of his purchase. It is generally held in other States, that no time will suffice to bar the right of disaffirmance short of that which would toll the right of
Mrs. Brantley made no offer to return the money received by her for the lot, aud this is urged as affording ground for enjoining her action of ejectment,
It was said in Furguson v. Bobo, supra, that a return of the consideration received was always necessary in this class of cases. The point was not before us in that case, and the remark was borrowed from 2 Kent’s Com. 240. The doctrine there announced is supported by a formidable array of authorities, and was probably the doctrine formerly universally recognized ; but a careful and extended examination of the cases satisfies us, that while it is still the accepted rule in many courts, it requires to bo modified.-
If the minor has in possession any.of the consideration re-eeived, when he disaffirms his contract, or after he becomes of age, he must return it. By the act of disaffirmance he loses the right to retain that which has been received, and if he holds on to the consideration, or disposes of it after majority, it will amount to a ratification of his previously voidable contract. But if he has lost, or squandered the consideration during minority, this is nothing more than the. law expects of him, and he cannot be required to purchase the right of reclaiming his own by still further abstractions fromrhis estate. Sucha rule would' practically. strike down the shield which the law, by reason of his inexperience and youth, throws around him. Neither as to executed nor executory 'contracts is he required to return the consideration where it passed from him during minority. We say nothing of a case where it could be shown
Many cases to the contrary may be found, where the contract has been executed; but the doctrine announced by those cited above seems to us most in accordance with the principles underlying the disabilities of infants.
That the complainant was a purchaser for value, without notice of defendant’s rights, is immaterial. The right of the infant to avoid his contracts is an absolute and paramount right, superior to all equities of other persons, and may, therefore, be exercised against bona fide purchasers from the grantee, and his avoidance may be evidenced by any act clearly demonstrating a renunciation of the contract. Price v. Furman, 27 Vt. 268 ; Hill v. Anderson, 5 Smed. & M. 216 ; Jenkins v. Jenkins, 12 Iowa, 195 ; 1 Am. Ld. Cas. 259.
Reversed and bill dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Hattie A. Brantley v. Walter B. Wolf
- Cited By
- 24 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. ImrANT. Conveyance of land. Disaffirmance. Estoppel in pais. Where one in infancy has sold and conveyed his land, he is not estopped from disaffirming the conveyance, after attaining his majority, by the facts (1) that the vendee was ignorant of his minority at the time of the purchase; (2) that he gave to the vendee no notice of his minority, and (3) that he received and enjoyed the purchase-money. It is only an active participation or silent acquiescence in some act designed at the time to work a fraud upon the vendee, which will make the conduct of the infant grantor, in such case, operate as an estoppel to a disaffirmance of his contract of conveyance. Ferguson v. Bobo, 54 Miss. 121, distinguished and explained. 2. Same. Permitting improvement of land sold. Estoppel. The act of a minor in standing by and seeing buildings erected upon land which he has sold and conveyed, without making objection thereto, does not estop him to disaffirm the conveyance upon arriving at his majority. 3. Same. Disaffirmance of conveyance. Limitation. Ordinarily it is not an unreasonable delay for the vendor of land sold during his infancy to wait two years after attaining his majority before disaffirming the conveyance. And the fact that the land was bought by a second vendee after the vendor had attained his majority would make no difference, where the latter was ignorant of such subsequent purchase. 4. Same. Disaffirmance of contract. Consideration, whether returned or not. Where one having made a contract during his minority disaffirms it, upon the attainment of his majority, he must return the consideration which he received therefor, if he has it at the time of attaining majority, or of the act of disaffirmance, and if, after the attainment of his majority, he retains for an unreasonable time, or disposes of it, that will amount to a ratification of his previously voidable contract; but if he has lost or squandered such consideration during his minority, he is not required to make restitution thereof, nor satisfaction therefor, in order to entitle him to disaffirm his contract. 5. Same. Conveyance, of land. Disaffirmance. Subsequent purchaser for value. The fact that the purchaser of land from an infant’s vendee paid a valuable consideration therefor, in ignorance of the rights of the infant vendor, does not protect such subsequent purchaser against the right of the infant to dis-affirm the conveyance when he has attained his majority.