Whitman v. Wene
Whitman v. Wene
Opinion of the Court
If this case turned upon the issue made by the pleadings, proof and argument of counsel, I should feel great doubt bow it ought to be decided. That issue is whether the instrument sued on was ever executed by the defendant. The answer denies the execution under oath, and there is only one witness, the attorney in fact of complainant who signed it in the name of complainant, to prove the execution. There is corroborating testimony, however, to sustain him, strongly persuasive in view of the character and intelligence of the witnesses ; but whether sufficient to overturn the answers, and the evidence of the defendant as a witness, may admit of doubt.
Upon examining the agreement itself, however, I find that, even if its execution be satisfactorily established, it is deficient in those qualities of mutuality and equality which are essential to the specific execution of contracts in this court.
The bill styles the instrument sued on as “a certain memorandum of agreement of sale and purchase of said premises, a house and lot, the same reciting and including a bond in the usual form for a specific compliance with its terms, conditioned with a certain forfeiture in case either should fail to do so at a time therein specified.” The instrument itself recites that the parties have mutually agreed to enter into
Tbe instrument does start out witb saying, that complainant “has this day sold” to defendant tbe lot in question. This is not a stipulation for a deed, and, if it has any operation, is in itself a deed. But tbe bill does not pretend that
It may be added that the power of attorney under which the attorney in fact acted, does not authorize him to make a deed with covenants of general warranty, nor even to bind his principal to the extent of the stipulations actually recited in the instrument sued on. The specific execution of contracts is not a matter of right, but of discretion, a legal discretion, it is true, and not mere caprice. But no court of equity will lend its aid to the enforcement of a contract which is manifestly unequal, although the inequality may have been the result of oversight and haste.
The bill must be dismissed with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.