M'Kinney v. Pinckard's Ex'or
M'Kinney v. Pinckard's Ex'or
Opinion of the Court
The question is, Whether the contract between Pinckard and M’Kinney ought to be set aside by a court of equity?
The evidence proves, incontestibly, the improvidence and prodigality of Pinckard, the embarrassment of his affairs, and his pecuniary distress at the time he entered into this hard bargain ; and that M’Kinney, of all men, had the best opportunity of
If the sale had been a sale of property in possession, and not of a reversionarj- interest, I will not say that the inadequacy of price, considered apart from all the other circumstances of the case, is or is not so gross as to be ipso facto proof of fraud: but I am clearly of opinion, that if it had been a sale of property in possession, the inadequacy of price taken in connexion with the attendant circumstances, would be proof of an unconscientious and iniquitous advantage, taken by cunning and rapacity over improvidence and ^distress, that must be reprobated by a court of equity. But the case is still stronger, when we consider it as the sale of an expectant interest. It is not necessary, in this case, to decide whether every seller of an expectant interest is to be treated as an expectant heir: on that point, therefore, I give no opinion. But it is very clear, that a very anxious protection is extended by equity, to persons selling expectant interest, although they do not stand in the relation of expectant heirs; and that trivial circumstances, added to the inadequacy of price, will be sufficient to set aside such sales. Wiseman v. Beake, 2 Vern. 121; Cole v. Gibbons, 3 P. Wms. 290; Bowes v. Heaps, 3 Ves. & Beam. 117.
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