Houston v. Witherspoon

Mississippi Supreme Court October 15, 1890

Houston v. Witherspoon, 68 Miss. 190 (Miss. 1890)

Campbell

Opinion of the Court

Campbell, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The judgment is right. There is no ground of estoppel to Mrs. *196W., in favor of the appellants. She did nothing to mislead them, nor could they have been misled, nor in fact were they. She did not waive her legal demand against them, for she did not know of it when she wrote the letter to Mason. This letter was not intended by her to be the basis of any action by any one, and was not such a one as she could suppose would be made such, nor could it be justly so regarded by anybody ; and the claim by the appellants that they were induced by it to change their position to their harm, looks very much like a pretext and an after-thought to defeat the just and legal demand of the plaintiff. Amer. & Eng. Encyclopedia of Law, Title, Estoppel and cases cited, p. 17.

Affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name: J. J. Houston v. C. V. Witherspoon
Cited By: 3 cases
Status: Published
Syllabus: Estoppel. Landlord and tenant. Suit for rent. A landlord in Kentucky was led to believe by the tenant on her plantation in Mississippi that he was unable to pay rent due without selling his mules. She wrote him consenting to await another crop for the rent. In truth, he had raised crops sufficient to pay the rent, a portion of which, in value exceeding the rent, he had delivered to merchants on a supply-account, they knowing of the landlord’s lien. Without her knowledge, he showed them her letter, and on the faith of it they gave him further credit. The rent was not paid, and the landlord sued the merchants for the value of the crops received. Held, that she was not estopped by her letter, she having done nothing to mislead defendants, and not knowing her rights when she wrote.