Grice v. Jones
Grice v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The other defenses interposed at the trial have been expressly waived by counsel for defendant, and they are here depending
We are impressed with the contention of counsel for complainant that, under the terms of the agreement, no tender whatever was necessary. Under the terms of the contract, the defendant obligated himself to execute a conveyance of the property in question upon the admission of the will of George Grice to probate, and complainant was to pay the balance of the purchase price within twenty days thereafter. The precedent obligation of performance rested on the defendant. At the time complainant made the demand, defendant was six days in default of a performance of his part of the agreement, while complainant had yet fourteen days within which to perform his part of the agreement. The law as to the duty of contracting parties is well expressed in Phillips & C. Constr. Co. v. Seymour, 91 U. S. 646, 650, 23 L. ed. 341, 343, where the court said: “Where a specified thing is to be done by one party as the consideration of the thing to be done by the other, it is undeniably the general rule that the covenants are mutual and are dependent, if they are to be performed at the same time; and if, by the terms or nature of the contract, one is first to be performed as the condition of the obligation of the other, that which is first to be performed must be done or tendered before that party can sustain a suit against the other. There is no doubt that, in this class of contracts, if a day is fixed for performance, the party whose duty it is to perform or tender performance first must do it on that day, or show his readiness and willingness to do it, or he cannot recover in an action at law for nonperf or manee by the other party.”
Applying this rule to the present ease, the obligation rested
Complainant was neither required to make a tender nor await the date when performance on his part became obligatory, as conditions precedent to bringing his action to require specific performance by defendant. Demand was all that was essential. This was made in express terms at the time of the tender, and when defendant refused to execute a deed in compliance with his agreement, complainant’s cause of action immediately ac■crued. The fact that he filed his bill within fifteen minutes after making the demand is immaterial. Time is not essential ■so long as the action is not barred by any statute placing a limitation upon the time of bringing such an action.
The judgment is reversed with costs, and the court is directed
A motion by the appellee for a rehearing or modification of the opinion was overruled May 4, 1909.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GRICE v. JONES
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- Syllabus
- Specific Performance; Tender; Vendor and Purchaser. Where the beneficiary under a will agrees in writing to convey his interest in land devised to him for a specified sum, part of which is paid in cash, and by the agreement the purchaser agrees to pay the balance of the purchase .price within twenty days after the admission of the will to probate, the purchaser, immediately upon the probate of the will, and upon the refusal by the vendor of a demand for a deed, is entitled to maintain a bill for specific performance of the agreement, without making a tender of the balance of the purchase price, or waiting for the expiration of the twenty days, and the fact that he filed his bill within fifteen minutes after making demand is immaterial.