Ford v. Steele

• Decision Date: 10 March 1891
• Citation: 31 Neb. 521,48 N.W. 271
• Parties: FORD ET AL. v. STEELE ET AL.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

31 Neb. 521

48 N.W. 271

FORD ET AL.

v.STEELE ET AL.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

March 10, 1891.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. In 1879, one F., being possessed of 120 acres of land in this state, proposed to a married daughter and her husband that if they would remove onto 40 acres of the land, build a house thereon, and break up and cultivate the land, and pay the taxes, they could have the land. In pursuance of this promise, the daughter and her husband moved upon the land, broke up and cultivated the same, and erected a house thereon, which is their home. In an action of ejectment by the father against the daughter and her husband the foregoing facts were pleaded as an equitable defense to the action, and, the jury having returned a verdict in favor of the daughter, held, that the verdict was sustained by the clear weight of evidence.

2. Where a father makes a parol promise to a child to convey to him or her a tract of land if the latter will remove to the same, erect a house thereon, and break up and cultivate the land, all of which is done in reliance upon the promise, equity will enforce the agreement.

Error to district court, Pawnee county; BROADY, Judge.A. H. Babcock and C. E. White, for plaintiffs in error.

G. M. Humphrey, J. K. Goudy, and H. C. Lindsay, for defendants in error.

MAXWELL, J.

This action was brought by the plaintiffs against the defendants to recover possession of the following described premises, situated in Pawnee county, to-wit: The E. 1/3 of the N. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4, and the E. 1/3 of the N. 1/2 of the S. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4 of section 5, township 3, range 9 E., containing about 40 acres. It is alleged that the defendants, since the 1st day of March, 1886, have unlawfully kept and still keep the plaintiffs out of possession thereof, and of the rents and profits to the amount of $300. The defendants filed an answer to said petition, alleging that the legal estate the plaintiffs have in and to the above-described premises is subject to the equitable estate the defendants have in said lands; deny that plaintiffs are entitled to possession; and deny that they have kept and still keep plaintiffs out of the lawful possession thereof, and deny that defendants are liable for rents and profits to plaintiffs. They allege in their answer that the plaintiffs are the parents of the defendant Mary Steele, the wife of Thomas L. Steele; that on or about the 1st day of November, 1878, the plaintiffs, being the owners in fee of 120 acres of land, of which the above-described land is a part, and being desirous of having these defendants live near them, entered into a parol agreement with said defendants to give to the defendant Mary Steele the land described in plaintiffs' petition for and in consideration that the defendants should move from Illinois to Nebraska, settle upon, cultivate, and improve said land, and make their home upon the same; that defendants, relying upon the promises of plaintiffs to give the said land to Mary Steele, and within a reasonable time to convey the same to her, in good faith complied with...