Wheeler v. Sullivan
| Decision Date | 03 December 1925 |
| Citation | 106 So. 876,90 Fla. 711 |
| Parties | WHEELER v. SULLIVAN et al. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Suit by William H. Wheeler against Norma L. Sullivan and husband to recover money or to have it declared a lien upon the named defendant's separate property. Judgment for defendants and complainant appeals.
Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
Agreement for sale of realty by married woman, not executed according to statute, may not be specifically enforced against her, but is not wholly void; on sufficient showing that married woman declines to perform agreement to sell realty, she may be required to return money paid, and, on refusal, it may be made lien on her separate property. Although an agreement for the sale of real property made by a married woman vendor, but not executed in accordance with statutory requirements, may not be specifically enforced against her by reason of such defective execution, such fact does not render the contract wholly void. Upon a sufficient showing, in appropriate proceedings instituted for that purpose, that the femme covert vendor declines to perform, it may be decreed that she return the money paid to her upon such contract, and, failing therein, that it become a lien upon her separate property.
In valid contract for sale of land, there is implied undertaking to convey good title, unless such obligation is expressly excluded. In every valid contract for the sale of lands whatever may be the language in which it is couched, there is an implied undertaking to convey a good title, unless such an obligation is expressly excluded by the terms of the agreement.
Purchaser under executory contract cannot be compelled to accept title to property under incumbrance, which vendor cannot or will not remove, and which purchaser cannot remove by application of purchase money. In the absence of a provision to the contrary in the contract of sale, a purchaser under an executory contract cannot be compelled to complete his purchase or accept the title, if there is an incumbrance on the property which the vendor cannot or will not remove, and which the purchaser cannot himself remove by an application of the purchase money.
Agreement to convey good or marketable title discharged only by conveyance of title unincumbered and free from reasonable doubt. When a vendor of real property expressly or by implication agrees to convey a good title or marketable title, that undertaking is discharged only by the conveyance of a title unincumbered and free from reasonable doubt as to any question of law or fact necessary to sustain its validity.
Restrictive covenants held to entitle purchaser to refuse to take title unless they require no more than law would require of purchaser. Where a contract for the sale of real property is executory, the settled rule is that, unless excepted by such contract of sale, or the restrictive covenants be properly released, or the objection duly waived by the vendee covenants imposed by the vendor or a predecessor in title, restricting the use which may be made of the premises, are such incumbrances as entitle the purchaser to refuse to perform, unless such covenants require no more than the law would compel the vendee to do, or refrain from doing, as the case may be, independently of contract.
Reasonable restrictions on use of real property imposed by public authority through valid exercise of powers of government do not usually justify purchaser in refusing to perform. Reasonable restrictions upon the use which may be made of real property, when imposed by public authority through a valid exercise of the powers of government, are not usually regarded as such an incumbrance as will justify a vendee in refusing to perform a contract for the purchase of such property.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; H. F. Atkinson, judge.
Shutts & Bowen, of Miami, for appellant.
Hudson & Cason, of Miami, for appellees.
On March 21, 1918, Norma L. Sullivan (joined by her husband) and one W. A. Rice, as owners and developers of the 'Rice & Sullivan subdivision of the city of Miami, fla.,' entered into an agreement under seal by which the said parties agreed that in selling and conveying their respective property in said subdivision----
'every conveyance shall be made subject to the following provisions which may be inserted in each deed or embraced by reference as the case may require, to wit:
Whether the language above quoted, when inserted in the contemplated deeds, would constitute a condition, as distinguished from a covenant running with the land, it is unnecessary for us to now decide.
On January 4, 1922, the said Norma L. Sullivan, then a married woman, through her agent P. H. Arthur, agreed to sell to Max Zapf lot 2 of block A of said Rice & Sullivan subdivision. Zapf paid $1,000 on account of the purchase price, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Pembroke v. Peninsular Terminal Co.
...of the contract of purchase and the recovery back of that portion of the purchase money already paid? We think not. In Wheeler v. Sullivan, 90 Fla. 711, 106 So. 876, 878, court, speaking through Mr. Justice Strum, said: 'The contract here sued upon is executory. That being the case, the set......
-
De Huy v. Osborne
...533, 23 P. 217; McCarty v. Helbling, 73 Or. 356, 144 P. 499; Maupin Market. Tit. (3d Ed.) 24, 767, 788, 810. See, also, Wheeler v. Sullivan, 90 Fla. 711, 106 So. 876; Van Riper v. Wickersham, 77 N. J. Eq. 232, 76 1020, 30 L. R. A. (N. S.) 25, Ann. Cas. 1912A, 319; Deseumeur v. Rondel, 76 N.......
-
White v. Crandall
... ... disclosed was burdened by the restrictions and the easement ... The ... case Wheeler v. Sullivan, 90 Fla. 711, 106 So. 876, is not in ... point, as in that case the contract involved was an executory ... contract of sale. The fact ... ...
-
Garfinkle, Matter of
...288, 14 So.2d 403 (1943); Walker v. Close, 98 Fla. 1103, 125 So. 521, reh. denied, 98 Fla. 1125, 126 So. 289 (1930); Wheeler v. Sullivan, 90 Fla. 711, 106 So. 876 (1925). Marketable title is not necessarily perfect title, nor must it satisfy the purchaser or his attorney, unless there is an......