McCardle v. Kennedy

• Decision Date: 26 June 1893
• Citation: 17 S.E. 1001,92 Ga. 198
• Parties: McCARDLE v. KENNEDY et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

17 S.E. 1001

92 Ga. 198

McCARDLE v. KENNEDY et al.

Supreme Court of Georgia

June 26, 1893

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where a conveyance was made in consideration of support for life, the grantor had no right, without the consent of the grantee, to rescind the contract by a subsequent conveyance to another, merely because the support was withheld. She could not thereby defeat the first deed, her redress being an action for the value of the support withheld, or an equitable action to rescind, if the special facts, such as insolvency would make the latter the appropriate relief.

2. The evidence warranted the verdict, and the newly-discovered evidence could not properly change the result.

Error from superior court, Bibb county; A. L. Miller, Judge.

Action by F. M. Kennedy and others against Mary A. McCardle to recover land. Judgment for plaintiffs. Defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Thos B. West and L. D. Moore, for plaintiff in error.

Freeman & Griswold and J. L. Hardman, for defendants in error.

SIMMONS J.

1. Mrs Champion made a deed to her brother McCardle, the consideration expressed therein being $1,000. The real consideration, however, seems to have been an agreement by McCardle to support her during her life. This deed was made in 1865. McCardle died in 1874. In 1887 Mrs. Champion conveyed the same land to her sister-in-law Mrs. Mary McCardle, wife of another brother, stating in the deed that the first conveyance was void, because the grantee had failed to maintain and support her according to the contract. After her death, the children of the first grantee brought an action for the land, and the grantee under the second deed claimed the land under that conveyance. When a person conveys land to another for a valuable consideration, the title passes out of him into his grantee; and, if the grantee fails to pay the purchase money or to comply with his contract, the grantor has no right, without the consent of the grantee, to rescind the contract by a subsequent conveyance to another person, and thereby cancel the first one. The failure to pay the purchase money, or the failure to maintain and support the grantor, if that be the consideration, is not a sufficient reason for rescinding the contract of sale. The remedy in such cases is an action for the recovery of the purchase money, or an action for the value of the support withheld, or an equitable action to rescind the contract, if the...