Leland v. Hodgman
Leland v. Hodgman
Opinion of the Court
The defendant admits the making of the contract of May 26, 1875, whereby the notes given by the orator for the livery property were to be surrendered and cancelled. He also admits that he has received the money on the $500 note given him by the orator on that occasion, and that he has received back so much of the livery stock as the orator claims was to be delivered back under that contract, but claims that the contract required that the orator should have delivered other property, called the “ substituted property ” and the possession of the stable, and because of the orator’s failure to comply with the contract of May 26, 1875, as he the defendant claims it, he can hold the alvais of the $500 note, and the avails of the property re-delivered, and apply them in part payment of the notes originally given him by the orator for the livery property, and prosecute his suit at law founded on those notes. The controversy between the parties is not in regard to what the contract of May 26 is, but in regard to what property the orator was to re-deliver to the defendant by the terms of that contract; that is, on what property the defendant had a lien, when that contract was made, or whether what is called the substituted property had been substituted in the place of property sold by the orator from the livery stock which he purchased of the defendant. The decision of this question, we think, is immaterial to the determination of the orator’s right to maintain this bill. By taking and retaining the benefits of the contract of May 26, 1875, especially, by taking and retaining the money on the five-hundred-dollar note given on that-occasion, and thereby holding the orator to the fulfillment of that contract, the defendant binds himself to the fulfillment of the contract on his part. He cannot hold the orator bound, and not be bound thereby himself. If one party to a contract is bound to its fulfillment, both are. If the orator practiced such fraud in making the contract of May 26, or so refused to deliver the property soon after the contract was made, as would have justified .the defendant in treating it a nullity, he did not so treat it. He received baclt what of the livery property the orator claims was covered by the contract, and retained the five-hundred-dollar note, and took the
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GEORGE H. LELAND v. VOLNEY C. HODGMAN
- Status
- Published