Shilanski v. Farrell
Shilanski v. Farrell
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This was an action of assumpsit brought by the purchaser against the vendors to recover back money paid on a contract for the sale of land. It is an admitted fact, under the pleadings, that after the time for the payment of the entire purchase money had passed without full payment being made, the defendants sold the land to another. This, it is claimed, was a rescission of the contract by the defendants, or gave the plaintiff the right to treat it as such and to recover back the part of the purchase money he had paid. And this would be true, if the defendants were still bound to convey to the plaintiff at the time they conveyed to another. See Durham v. Wick, 210 Pa. 128; Sanders v. Brock, 230 Pa. 609, at p. 617. The defendants do not deny the act from which, in the absence of qualifying facts, their
“And it is hereby expressly understood and agreed, that the payment of the said installments, as the same severally fall due, is made material; and the failure to pay any one of them on the day on which the same falls due shall be an absolute forfeiture of this contract, and the said parties of the first part, théir heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, shall thereupon have the right to re-enter and re-possess the said lots of land with the appurtenances. Time, therefore, in reference to each and every one of the payments as above stated being hereby expressly made material, a failure to pay in accordance with the dates as fixed and agreed upon above, shall work an absolute and unconditional forfeiture of this contract.”
No question is raised as to the validity of such a stipulation, and none can be raised: Becker v. Smith, 59 Pa. 469; Axford v. Thomas, 160 Pa. 8. The question is whether a forfeiture had taken place. The facts pertinent to this inquiry are these: By the terms of the contract $25.00 of the purchase money, which was $800, was payable on its execution and the balance in installments of $10.00 each on the seventh day of each month. Between March 5, 1910, the date of the contract, and June 10, 1912, the date of the last payment of $30.00, nine other payments were made at irregular intervals and varying in amount. None of them, excepting the first installment, was made on the date specified in the contract, and between the last payment and the one immediately preceding there was an interval of more than a year. The balance of the purchase money, which became due in the July following the $30.00 payment, was not paid or tendered either at that time or later.
Before discussing the effect of the acceptance of these payments out of time, it will be well to notice, that
A waiver is an intentional abandonment or relinquishment of a right, and may be inferred from conduct. Certainly the acceptance of the last payment of $30.00, in the absence of any qualifying fact or circumstance, raised the conclusive inference that the defendants intentionally abandoned and relinquished the right to
The case may present a different aspect on the trial, but as presented by the statement of claim and the affidavit of defense, the plaintiff was not entitled to summary judgment.
The judgment is reversed and the record remitted with a procedendo.
Reference
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- Vendor and vendee — Contract—Rescission—Tender of deed — Nonpayment of purchase money. 1. Where by the terms of a contract for the sale of land, time of payment is of the essence and it does not appear in the contract, or otherwise, that delivery of a deed and payment of the purchase money were intended to be mutual concurrent and dependent covenants, tender of a deed is not a condition precedent to the right of the vendor to rescind the contract for nonpayment of the purchase money or an installment thereof at the time stipulated. 2. Where time for the payment of installments of purchase money is of the essence of a contract for the sale of real estate, the acceptance of installments at irregular times may operate as a waiver of a right to enforce a forfeiture for prior failures to pay on the day stated, yet the mere fact of receiving payment or several payments after the dates when the purchaser was bound to make them does not, without more, operate as a complete abrogation of a right explicitly given to rescind the contract, if installments subsequently due are not paid on the days stated. 3. Where a contract for the sale of real estate makes payment of installment of purchase money on days stated of the essence of the contract, the vendor may, on default of the payment of an installment convey the land to another person without entering judgment in an amicable action of ejectment provided for in the agreement of sale.