Error v. Ward

• Decision Date: 28 February 1850
• Docket Number: No. 41.,41.
• Citation: 8 Ga. 245
• Parties: Benjamin H. Cameron et. al. plaintiffs in error. vs. Stephen Ward, defendant.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

8 Ga. 245

Benjamin H. Cameron et. al. plaintiffs in error. vs. Stephen Ward, defendant.

No. 41.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

FEBRUARY TERM, 1850.

Bill, &c. in Troup. Decision by Judge Hill, at November Adjourned Term, 1849.

This bill alleges, that in 1835, Stephen Ward purchased of one Thomas Walker, lot No. 2, in 11th District of Troup, for $750; that Walker had bought of one Christina Thomas, the drawer, in 1832; Ward went into immediate possession, and so continued until the latter part of 1847; that in 1835, he wrote to the Surveyor General to know if the grant had issued, and was informed that it did issue before the purchase by Walker; that in 1847, he learned that said lot had been granted, under the then late law, to Thomas Whitaker, and sold by him to Pleasant Compton; that in November, 1847, he went to Milledgeville, and that Compton, under the peculiar circumstances, agreed to sell him the lot for $200; that the defendants below, Cameron and Johnson, being there, as members of the Legislature, and his immediate representatives, in whom he had great confidence, advised him to paythe $200, and thus keep his homestead; that upon his replying, that he had not the money with him, they agreed to advance him the $200, and for their security, were to take the title in their own names, which they agreed to make to him on their return home, upon his refunding the money with interest; that having a little more money with him than sufficient to pay his expenses home, he handed them $20 towards the land; that about 25th December thereafter, about the time he expected them home, he procured the money, and sent it by a friend to Cameron\'s house, and learned that he had not then returned; that shortly after, he was taken sick, and about 1st February, 1848, he procured the money to be again carried to Cameron, who informed the messenger that Johnson had sold the land to one Wm, A. Spear; that the money was then tendered to Johnson, and a deed demanded, who declined making it, for the reasons named. The value of the land is alleged to be one thousand dollars. The bill prays that defendants below be decreed to pay the value of the land, $1000. This bill was demurred to—

1st. Because it showed on its face, that complainant had as ample and adequate relief at Common Law, as in Equity.

2d. That there was no equity in the bill, and insisting on the Statute of Frauds.

The Court overruled the demurrer, and ordered defendants to answer, &c. To which ruling, defendants excepted, and thus the case comes up.

B. H. Hill and Stokes, for plaintiff in error.

Cole, for defendant in error.

By the Court. —Warner, J. delivering the opinion.

The complainant alleges that ho purchased the lot of land in controversy, in 1835, from Walker, for which he paid $750 00, went into the possession of it, and made valuable improvements, not doubting the grant from the State had issued; that in 1847, to his surprise, he learned that the lot was not granted at the time of his purchase from Walker, but had been granted to one Whitaker, under the late Act of the Legislature, who had sold it to Compton; that he visited Milledgeville during the session of the Legislature of 1S47, to see Compton in relation to the land, who, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, agreed to sell the land to him for $200,...