Robinson v. Jones
Robinson v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
We concur with the chancellor in his finding that the facts in evidence establish the mistake arising in the agreement for partition of the lands of William Robinson, deceased, and that the lands in controversy were, and were intended to be, allotted to the appellant, but that a mistake was made in preparing the written agreement, by reason of which these lands were not described among those allotted to him. This being true, it follows that the writing should be corrected so that it may express the true agreement, unless the present holder is a-bona fide purchaser of the land.
Without reference to that portion of the testimony which con-.
The court erred in applying the rule announced in Staton v. Bryant, 55 Miss. 261, for the measurement of rents to be decreed against the defendant in possession. The rule there announced was for the protection of one who, without title, occupied in good faith the lands of another, believing himself to be the owner, and against whom the plaintiff seeks to recover the reasonable rental value of the property. The manifest hardship of compelling a defendant in such attitude to respond for what the lands might have rented for, in the absence of evidence as to what they were actually rented for, led the court to announce the rule there formulated, the justice of which commends it for application in all similar cases. But the rule is applicable only where the demand for rents is in the nature of a quantum meruit. It has no place where, as here, the com-olainant takes upon himself the burden of showing exactly what sums have been received by the defendant and is content to receive them in discharge of his claim. It cannot be unjust to compel restoration of what has been actually received, for the defendant is but restoring to the complainant his own, and this is the end and purpose of remedial justice.
Decree affirmed, except as to rents, on which it is reversed and remanded, to be further proceeded mth in the comi. below.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- William Robinson, by next friend v. Winston Jones
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Estoppel. Decree in another state. Mistahe. Jurisdiction. Where tenants in common of land situated in Alabama and Mississippi have made partition of the same, a purchaser from one of them, who, under a decree in Alabama, takes certain land in severalty because of the partition, cannot set up that the decree of the Alabama court attempting to correct a mistake in the partition of that part of the land situated in this state was void for want of jurisdiction. 2. Same, Suit to correct mistahe. Bona fide purchaser. In such case where the purchaser, being 'a party to the suit in Alabama, and, with full knowledge of the mistake, takes certain land in severalty under the decree there, he cannot, in defense of a suit afterwards brought here to correct the error in the partition, claim to be a bona fide purchaser of the land which is the subject of the mistake. 3. Rents. Amount received by defendant. Accounting. Recovery. It is only where the owner of land wrongfully deprived of possession is seeking to recover the reasonable rental value, that the rule announced in Staton v. Bryant, 55 Miss. 261, applies. Where the owner assumes the burden of showing the sums actually received by the defendant, he is entitled to recover that.