Plummer v. Owens Adm'rs

• Decision Date: 31 August 1853
• Citation: 45 N.C. 254
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: WILLIAM J. PLUMMER v. THE ADMINISTRATORS OF HENRY C. OWENS.

45 N.C. 254

WILLIAM J. PLUMMER

v.THE ADMINISTRATORS OF HENRY C. OWENS.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

August Term, 1853.

In a bill for a specific performance of a contract for the purchase of land, the plaintiff relied upon the following memorandum from the books of the defendants' intestate;--“1841, W. P. to H. C. O., Dr. To 4 loads of Rock, one lot, at one year's credit, $125:”-- Held, That the memorandum was too vague and uncertain to take the contract out of the Statute of 1819.

CAUSE removed from the Court of Equity for Mecklenburg, at June (special) Term, 1852. The pleadings and facts are stated in the opinion delivered by this Court.Boyden, for the plaintiff .

Wilson, for the defendants .

NASH, C. J.

The bill is filed for the specific performance of a contract for the sale and purchase of a tract of land or lot in the town of Charlotte. The lot is described as being lot number 369, in square number 51, in the map or plat of said town. No writings were drawn between the parties at the time the agreement was made, and the defendants, the administrators of H. C. Owens, deceased, with whom it is alleged by the plaintiff that the contract was made, in their answer, deny all personal knowledge of the contract, but state that if any was made, it was by parol, and they claim the benefit of the Act of 1819. In his bill, the plaintiff admits that the contract was not reduced to writing, but insists that Henry C. Owens had made a memorandum of the same in some one of his books of accounts signed by him, or in letters, and the defendants are called on to produce any such memorandum or letters or other papers they have found among his papers. In compliance with this demand, the defendants produce the copy of an account extracted from the books of H. C. Owens, headed “1841, William Plummer to H. C. Owens, Dr. To 4 loads of Rock, one lot, at one year's credit, $125.” The account then goes on to charge for putting up a house, and for various building articles. It is admitted that the name of H. C. Owens at the head of the account is in the handwriting of the intestate. The plaintiff took possession of the lot No. 369, and lived on it a year or more when he left it and removed.

It is well settled in this State, that part performance of a parol contract, by taking possession and paying the purchase money and making improvements on land will not take the case out of the Statute of 1819, ( Allen v. Griffin, 2 Dev. & Bat. Eq. 9;) but that...