Witherspoon v. Witherspoon
Witherspoon v. Witherspoon
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Certain lands belonging to the estate of plaintiff's testator, situate in Lancaster County, •were ordered to be sold by decree of the court for partition, the terms of sale as expressed in the order being one-third cash, the
There is some controversy whether Massey was willing to comply with the terms of sale as advertised, but there is no doubt that the vendor expected and demanded that Massey should comply with the terms as announced on the day of sale, and his attorney prepared the necessary papers to that end, embracing in the mortgage prepared the conditions as to cutting the timber and the falling due of the entire bond in the event that said conditions were violated. Massey refused to comply with these conditions, and on the 6th of April, 1889, upon a notice served on Massey on the 5th of March preceding, the plaintiff obtained a rule against Massey to show cause from his honor, T. B. Fraser, why he should not be compelled to comply with his bid, or be attached for contempt, and also why the said land should not be resold at his, Massey’s, risk, if he continues to be in default at the hearing. The affidavit upon which this rule was obtained contained a statement of the terms of sale, as verbally announced on the day of sale, and it was the bid of Massey under these terms that plaintiff sought to enforce by the rule. Massey made return to the rule, stating that he bought the land under the advertisement of sale made by the executor, in which the terms announced were those contained in the order of the court only, and that he was not present when the verbal conditions were
The matter, it seems, was referred to a referee, who found, as a fact, that Massey was not present when the verbal conditions’ were announced, and did not know of said announcement, and, therefore, that no such conditions existed as to Massey, and that he was bound by his bid, as we suppose, independent of the ■conditions; and he recommended that Massey have leave to comply within a time to be fixed by the court, failing in which, that the land be resold at his risk, &c.
' On exceptions to this report his honor, Judge Pressley, in substance, confirmed the result of this report of the referee, holding that the verbal conditions were nothing more than what the plaintiff might demand, or rather, enforce, without special stipulations thereto in the mortgage, in fact, even less than the plaintiff’s rights to prevent waste, &c., and acts impairing the security of the mortgage; and that said verbal conditions, or partial waiver of the rights of the plaintiff, as the judge expressed it, if not accepted by Massey, still did not relieve him from his obligation to comply with his bid, which he might be compelled to do. But inasmuch as the report of the referee had recommended a resale at the risk of Massey as the proper remedy in the case, to which the plaintiff had not excepted, he would adopt that course, and he ordered a resale, upon Massey failing to comply with his bid within thirty days after his decree therein was filed, with ten dollars costs for the rule. This decree was dated January, 1890, one year and some two months from the sale, all of which time Massey was out of possession, and against whom the interest on the purchase money under the decree accrued.
We think the terms attempted to be added to the order of sale by the verbal announcement on the day of sale were illegal and without authority of law, and could not have been enforced against Massey. Bailey v. Bailey, 9 Rich. Eq., 895. It may be. however, that had the plaintiff sought to enforce the sale without these conditions in proper time, he might have been successful ; but no effort of this kind was made. In fact, this was
Whatever may have been the right of respondent to enforce the sale in accordance with the terms of the order of sale, if respondent had so demanded within a proper time, we think, under the facts here, the appellant having been kept out of possession for so long a time with interest accruing on the purchase, and with no opportunity to avail hitnself of the benefit of his purchase, it would be inequitable now to order a specific performance. The delay does not seem to have been occasioned by the appellant. On the contrary, the respondent is responsible for that, and now we think it is too late for him to fall back on the contract, as understood by appellant, after having failed to enforce it with the superadded terms.
It is the judgment of this court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WITHERSPOON v. WITHERSPOON
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Additional conditions, verbally announced at a sale under decree of the court, are illegal, and cannot be enforced against a purchaser who made his bid in ignorance of them. Nor will the purchase, without those conditions, be enforced after a lapse of more than two years, the delay not being the fault of the purchaser, and he not having been in possession. 2. Conditions that a purchaser of land about to be sold partly on credit, secured by mortgage, shall not cut more than a certain quantity of timber until the debt is discharged, and if so, that the debt shall be then wholly due, are not a more waiver of the mortgagee’s right to stay waste, but are conditions additional to those implied by law in such cases. What quantity of timber-cutting will constitute waste by a mortgagor may not be determined in advance, except by consent,