Parke v. Leewright

• Decision Date: 31 October 1854
• Citation: 20 Mo. 85
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: PARKE & BARRON, Appellants, v. LEEWRIGHT, Respondent.

20 Mo. 85

PARKE & BARRON, Appellants,

v.LEEWRIGHT, Respondent.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

October Term, 1854.

1. Mere part payment of the purchase money is not sufficient to entitle a party to the specific performance of a contract to convey land.

2. Valuable improvements, to be a ground for enforcing a specific performance, must have been made with the expectation that the contract would be fulfilled, and not after it was known that it would not be.

Appeal from Franklin Circuit Court.

The case is stated in the opinion of the court.

Stevenson and Gale, for appellant.

J. Halligan, for respondent.

GAMBLE, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

The petition is for the specific execution of an agreement for the sale of land. It is alleged that the plaintiffs agreed with one Jones, an agent of defendant, to purchase 273 acres of land belonging to defendant, at $7.50 per acre. The plaintiffs were to pay twenty dollars in cash and cause certain notes of the defendant to be liquidated, and to pay the balance of the purchase money in two years, for which they were to give their bonds, bearing interest from date. The plaintiffs and defendants were to meet in Union, the county seat of the county, and execute the necessary papers under the contract. The agreement was made on the 24th December, 1852, and the parties were to meet and execute the contract on the first day of January, being eight days after making the contract.

The plaintiffs allege that they paid to Jones the twenty dollars in cash, when the contract was made, and immediately took possession of the land; that they attended at Union on the first day of January, ready to comply with their part of the contract, but the defendant failed to attend and refused to comply with his part of the contract. They also say that they proceeded to improve and work the land, and that they have constructed “valuable and lasting improvements upon the land, in building fences, stopping washes, and preparation of the land for cultivation.” The defendant demurred to the petition, and the court sustained the demurrer.

The suit was commenced March 11, 1853. The only ground upon which this agreement is to be taken out of the statute of frauds is, that it was partly performed.

1. The purchase money agreed upon was $2,053.12 1/2; the payment was twenty dollars. The payment of this sum did not, of itself, entitle the plaintiffs to apply to a court of equity for a specific execution of the agreement. Their remedy at law...