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 Separate use In Pennsylvania considered 
 
 3 1924 024 706 313 
 
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Separate Use in Pennsylvania, 
 
 CONSIDERED WITH RESPECT TO THE 
 
 RESTRAINT ON ALIENATION. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE LAW ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. COPPEE MITCHELL, 
 
 On May ij, J875. 
 
 PRINTED BY THE LAW ACADEMY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 T. & J. W. JOHNSON & CO., 535 CHESTNUT STREET, 
 
 Law Booksellers, Publishers and Importers. 
 
 1875- 
 
33ffi 
 
 up 
 
 97 
 
Separate Use in Pennsylvania, 
 
 CONSIDERED WITH RESPECT TO THE 
 
 RESTRAINT ON ALIENATION. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Law Academy: 
 
 After an absence of thirteen years from your debates 
 and exercises, I come once more among you, still claim- 
 ing my right as one of the members of the Academy, 
 entitled, according to the by-laws, to attend its meet- 
 ings and take part in any of its discussions ; and 
 happily exempted from all fines except for personal 
 misbehaviour. I take the opportunity thus afforded to 
 acknowledge my great obligation to the Academy, not 
 only for the honour conferred by the flattering invitation 
 which brings me here to-night, but also, and chiefly, 
 for the important benefits I derived from my con- 
 nection with it in years past. I do not think it is 
 speaking too strongly to say that the principles of law 
 involved in some of the arguments in which I here 
 took part long ago, are among those of which my 
 memory now has the most tenacious hold. It is here 
 that many a lawyer, afterwards eminent at the bar or 
 upon the bench, has laid the foundations of that accu- 
 rate knowledge and practical forensic skill upon which 
 he rose ; and the exercises of the Academy assisting in 
 developing those "qualities which most surely help the 
 
4 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 " climber to the top, and keep him there." It is from 
 the associations here also, in which we are so closely 
 brought together, that the friendships are formed, which 
 grow and strengthen with advancing time, and end only 
 with life itself. 
 
 The time which has elapsed does not seem long, but 
 I cannot help noticing how many of those students and 
 junior lawyers who were active members of the Academy 
 when I was, no longer have a place in the ranks of the 
 profession in this city. Of 91 on the roll of active 
 members'in 1857, only 33, a little more than a third 
 are now engaged in practising law in Philadelphia — and 
 of 145 on the roll in 1862, only 60 are so employed 
 at this time. A large number have left the profession 
 entirely and engaged in other pursuits — some still adorn 
 the bar in other cities and States, and many have been 
 cut down by death, in all the vigour and hope and 
 promise of early manhood. 
 
 There was D. Penrose Buckley, who was reputed to 
 be the most popular man in the Academy, and well 
 he deserved the reputation, for a pleasanter and more 
 obliging disposition was seldom found united to such 
 sound good sense. He and H. Clay Beatty, who had 
 been our Prothonotary, and gave promise of a bright 
 career, both joined the army in the civil war, and died 
 in the service of their country. There was Franklin 
 Shippen, who had been Prothonotary, and afterwards 
 President of the Academy, and was a man of mark 
 among us — of strong judgment and unwearying appli- 
 cation : he fell a victim to consumption, the result as 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. r 
 
 was said — of self-imposed over-work. He took part 
 in compiling the supplement to Wharton's Digest, but 
 died before the book was published. And there was 
 Wm. F. Judson, who lived to be known as a rising 
 man to many of the present members of the Academy ; 
 and there were many others who might be named if the 
 occasion warranted it. They have passed away, but 
 their memories remain green to their contemporaries 
 who knew and loved them. 
 
 The circumstances which bring me back to the Acad- 
 emy, where so much of my interest centred in earlier 
 days, must furnish my excuse for indulging in these 
 personal recollections, as they naturally recalled them 
 to memory. At the idea of returning here, the names 
 and faces, and even the very tones of voice, of old 
 friends and associates now long dead, or passed from 
 sight to other scenes, returned upon my mind with a 
 vividness and strength that was surprising even to 
 myself. 
 
 In responding to your kind invitation, I have fol- 
 lowed the example set by many of the distinguished 
 gentlemen who have addressed the Academy in former 
 years, and chosen a theme for discussion of a purely 
 technical nature, — the limitation to the separate use of a 
 married woman. It is a subject upon which the deci- 
 sions of our courts have not been entirely harmonious, 
 either among themselves, or with the English authori^- 
 ties ; and I thought it might be of interest to arrange 
 some of them in a somewhat methodical form, with 
 
6 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 such explanations and reflections as might be suggested 
 by them. 
 
 The equitable separate estate was a creature of the 
 Court of Chancery in England, and we derived it — 
 along with the greater part of our laws and institutions 
 — from the mother-country. How far we have modi- 
 fied it to suit our own circumstances, it is part of my 
 purpose to show. 
 
 The common law respecting the rights of property 
 of married women we also received from the same 
 source, almost in its entirety ; but it was greatly altered 
 by the Married Women's Act of nth April, 1848. 
 That act vested a married woman's property in her 
 as her separate estate, depriving the husband of all 
 power or control over it. Since that time, we have had 
 in Pennsylvania two kinds of " separate estate ;" — the 
 one legal, under the statute ; the other equitable, under 
 the chancery doctrines, but substantially alike in every 
 feature but one. That dissimilarity is with respect to 
 the capacity for alienation. In the legal separate estate, 
 the married woman and her husband can dispose of the 
 property by joint consent; the statute added to her 
 capacity in some respects, and diminished it in none. 
 In the equitable separate estate, or separate use, there is 
 a total restraint upon alienation so long as the marriage 
 relation exists. 
 
 It is therefore to this feature of the separate use limi- 
 tation, namely the restraint upon alienation, that I shall 
 chiefly direct attention, for since the Married Woman's 
 Act, as I said, it is the incident which distinguishes it. 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 7 
 
 The condition of a married woman at common law 
 with respect to her property, was one which exposed 
 her to the risk of peculiar hardship. I do not say that 
 it was a condition of peculiar hardship, but that it ex- 
 posed her to risk of hardship. The question whether the 
 common law or the civil law is better with regard to the 
 rights of property allowed to married women, I do not 
 now propose to discuss. In Pennsylvania, indeed, we 
 have in this matter of separate use, a strange compound 
 of the extremes of both doctrines. The extreme limit 
 of the old common law rule is reached in the total disa- 
 bility which prevents a married woman, even with the con- 
 currence and joinder of her husband, from disposing by 
 deed of real property settled to her separate use. And 
 the extreme doctrine of the civil law is applied in pro- 
 tecting the feme covert from her husband and his credi- 
 tors, recognizing her as having a separate existence, and 
 capable of a separate ownership, as entirely distinct from 
 her husband, as if the marriage relation had never existed. 
 The risk of hardship I have mentioned to which the 
 common law exposed a wife, consisted in the danger of 
 having an unfortunate, an improvident, or a bad hus- 
 band. It is easy to see how the evil could come upon 
 her. An unfortunate husband might be the occasion 
 of the wife's being stripped of everything by his credi- 
 tors. An improvident one might squander her prop- 
 erty, and reduce her, as well as himself, to penury and 
 distress. A bad husband might separate himself from 
 her, or desert her, and leave her no provision except 
 to bind him by her contracts for necessaries ; or, he 
 
8 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 might bequeath all her personalty to his own kindred, 
 and dying before her, leave her penniless. 
 
 That this risk was an evil to be cured if possible, 
 cannot be doubted. It was no sufficient answer to say 
 that in the majority of cases the husband was better 
 fitted than the wife to manage and control the property. 
 Or, that the identity of interests produced by the com- 
 mon law, which gave the husband the ownership of 
 some, and the absolute control of all the wife's prop- 
 erty, was likely to secure domestic tranquillity and hap- 
 piness, and to prevent contention and strife in the 
 family. That might be admitted to be true ; and yet 
 here were the exceptions — sufficiently numerous in the 
 common experience of all — in which the rule did not 
 hold good ; where the husband was not fitted to control 
 the property, and where unhappiness and discord were 
 the results of allowing him absolute power. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the courts 
 of equity should have intervened to remedy what seems 
 to be such a manifest deficiency in the law, especially in 
 a country like England, where from early times, settle- 
 ments and provisions for married women were very 
 commonly used. It is quite reasonable to believe, that 
 the first idea of equitable interference was suggested by 
 the existence of such provisions, for the earliest juris- 
 diction assumed by the Court of Chancery for the pro- 
 tection of wives against their husbands, was exercised 
 by putting the husband upon terms when he came into 
 that court to recover his wife's equitable estate, and 
 requiring him to make a proper settlement out of it 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. g 
 
 upon her and her children, before granting him relief. 
 Speaking of the wife's equity to a settlement, Lord 
 Cottenham said in Sturgis v. Champneys, 5 Mylne & 
 Craig, 103, " upon a careful examination of the authori- 
 ties, I do not find the time when the court did not 
 exercise this jurisdiction in favor of the wife." 
 
 The separate use, as we understand it now, was a 
 development of later date. Of course, from ancient 
 times, special trusts might be and were created for mar- 
 ried women, as for other persons. But they were essen- 
 tially different from the modern separate estate in equity. 
 Mr. Spence, whose research into the antiquities of the 
 chancery jurisdiction is very thorough, says that in the 
 reign of James I., the doctrine was asserted that a mar- 
 ried woman might be made secure in the enjoyment of 
 property that had been given for her personal mainte- 
 nance, distinct from her husband. " But," he adds, 
 " at this time, an agreement only that property should 
 " be at the separate disposal of the wife against the 
 " husband, was not sufficient, the marriage would have 
 " extinguished the agreement. It was necessary there 
 " should be some legal assurance of the property, bind- 
 " ing in law, against the husband." (1 Spence, Eq. 
 Jur. 596.) 
 
 Here was a difficulty which long hampered the judges 
 of the Court of Chancery in dealing with the separate 
 use. That it was entangled with the idea of a special 
 trust, and that the intervention of trustees, and the 
 regular machinery of a trust, were required to give it 
 validity, or to enable them to enforce it. A very great 
 
IO SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 step forward was taken in 1725, when it was decided 
 that trustees were not indispensable, but that, since the 
 law vested the estate in the husband, the court would 
 consider him trustee for the separate use of his wife, 
 and would enforce the trust upon him, or any one 
 claiming in his right. Bennett v. Davis, 2 P. Wms 316. 
 From that time the development of the doctrine of the 
 separate estate was comparatively rapid, tending always, 
 or nearly so, in the same direction ; that is, towards 
 giving the married woman the same position with re- 
 spect to the property that she would have had if the 
 marriage had not existed. 
 
 But I do not mean to attempt to give a history of 
 the steps by which this result was reached. The time 
 allotted to such an address as this, renders it manifestly 
 impossible. Let me very briefly sketch the develop- 
 ment of the power and capacity of a married woman 
 over her separate estate. That will be sufficient for the 
 present purpose, for, as I have already said, it is mainly 
 to this point in which the Pennsylvania law differs so 
 completely from the law of England, that I wish to 
 direct your attention at this time. It came by degrees — 
 a gradual growth — only recently completed. 
 
 As the law now stands in England, a feme covert has 
 the same capacity to dispose of property settled to her 
 separate use, by deed or will, as if she were unmarried ; 
 whether it be personal or real, for life or in fee, unless 
 she be expressly restrained by the settlement ; and, gen- 
 erally speaking, it is bound by her contracts, written or 
 verbal. 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. \\ 
 
 But this was not always so held. It is only neces- 
 sary to read the exhaustive review of the cases by 
 Chancellor Kent, in The Methodist Episcopal Church v. 
 Jaques, 3 Johns. Ch. 77, to see that, although the gen- 
 eral current set in one direction, yet the authorities 
 were by no means harmonious, and that numerous 
 subtle and ingenious distinctions were drawn, which 
 required great industry and patience to comprehend, 
 and skill to reconcile. The source of the gift, whether 
 the property were bestowed by her husband or some 
 other, or whether it was the wife's ante-nuptial estate, 
 converted to her separate use by the agreement of the 
 husband ; the time of the settlement, whether before 
 or during marriage ; the form of the settlement, 
 whether trustees were interposed, or whether any 
 power was expressly given to or withheld from the 
 wife : — All these circumstances were made the grounds 
 of distinctions in the numerous cases that from time 
 to time arose and were decided. 
 
 As to personal property, the rule was early laid down, 
 that the married woman's power of disposition over it, 
 either by act in her life, or by her will, was absolute, 
 unless restrained by provision to that effect in the 
 settlement. Peacock v. Monk, 1 Ves. Sr. 190. This 
 case was decided by Lord Hardwicke in 1750, and 
 he mentions it as being then an undoubted and estab- 
 lished doctrine. Indeed, in the subsequent case of 
 Fettiplace v. Gorges, 1 Ves. Jr. 48, Lord Thurlow 
 says, " The first case on the subject is a very old one 
 in Tothill," probably in the time of James I., " that 
 
12 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 where a woman from her separate stock has saved a 
 sum of money, she may dispose of it." 
 
 But it was a long time after this was settled doctrine 
 before a married woman was allowed to have the same 
 capacity to dispose of land settled to her separate use, 
 without her husband's consent. In the case of Peacock v. 
 Monk, just mentioned, a distinction was drawn between 
 real and personal separate estate, which was, to some 
 extent, recognized and acted on by the Court of Chan- 
 cery until a few years ago, resting the difference of the 
 rule as to the two kinds of property on the fact that at 
 the death of the married woman her personal estate 
 went to her husband absolutely under the statute of 
 distributions, and therefore no one was interested in 
 her disposition of it, "except him and the wife herself. 
 " But,'' continues the Chancellor, " it is very different 
 " as to real estate, for the real estate will descend to her 
 " heir-at-law, and that more or less beneficially ; for 
 " the husband may be tenant by curtesy, if they have 
 " issue, otherwise not ; but still it descends to the heir- 
 " at-Iaw." And he expressly declares that the disability 
 of coverture prevents a married woman from dis- 
 posing of her real estate so as to disappoint her heir, 
 unless it were done by way of appointment of a trust, 
 or a power over a use. In that case it would operate 
 not by force of the capacity to alien, inseparably an- 
 nexed to ownership, but by virtue of the power ex- 
 pressly conferred by the settlement. Without that 
 power she might bar her husband, because it was the 
 very intent of the separate use that she should be inde- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 '3 
 
 pendent of him, but she could not bar her heir, for 
 that would be to extend the operation of the doctrine 
 beyond the existence of the coverture upon which only 
 it was intended to take effect. 
 
 A natural and logical consequence of these views was 
 the decision that a feme covert had the same power over 
 her life interest in real property settled to her separate 
 use, that she had over her personalty, and that the disa- 
 bility of coverture did not prevent her disposing of 
 that quantity of estate, either by way of sale or mort- 
 gage ; for in alienating the estate for her own life only, 
 she barred the rights of no one but herself and her 
 husband, and left the inheritance to her heir entirely 
 unfettered. Stead v. Nelson, 1 Beavan, 245. Of course, 
 in these remarks, I refer only to a disposition of the 
 property by a married woman, independent of any con- 
 sent or joinder of her husband. I do not apprehend 
 that the Court of Chancery ever refused to give effect 
 to a transfer of property, either real or personal, where 
 the means used were such as would have been consid- 
 ered sufficient for the purpose in a court of law ; unless 
 it was considered that a restraint upon alienation was 
 imposed by the terms of the settlement. In respect 
 to the conveyance of ordinary equitable estates (not 
 held for separate use), equity follows the law ; and the 
 analogy between legal and equitable estates is preserved 
 by requiring that both shall be conveyed inter vivos, in 
 the same manner. Mr. Sanders was of opinion, there- 
 fore, that while a married woman might convey a life 
 estate in her separate real property, by her own deed 
 
14 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 only; yet she could not dispose of the fee simple 
 without concurring with her husband in. levying a fine. 
 Sanders on Uses, *2%$. This opinion must have been 
 based on the theory that the doctrines of the separate 
 estate applied only to the life of the feme covert, and 
 that the inheritance beyond her life was not within the 
 reason of the separate use ; consequently, as to that, 
 the wife had not the capacity of a feme sole, but had 
 the estate of inheritance vested in her as a married 
 woman, subject to the disabilities of such condition, 
 and with power to convey, whether her title to the 
 inheritance were legal or equitable in its character, only 
 in the manner in which a married woman could convey 
 her lands, that is, by joining her husband in levying a 
 fine; or, since the statute 3 & 4, William IV. c. 75, by 
 deed duly executed by her and her husband, and ac- 
 knowledged according to the requirements of that act. * 
 There were some distinctions made, depending on 
 the method by which the separate use was created, as 
 that where the property was secured to the wife by the 
 ante-nuptial agreement of the husband, she might dis- 
 pose of it absolutely, whether personal or real, because 
 the form of settlement implied a power to do so, re- 
 served, by the wife to herself at a time when, being 
 actually sole, she might have barred her heir at her 
 pleasure. But no mere post-nuptial agreement of the 
 husband could have that effect, nor could such a power 
 be implied from a gift to her separate use by a third 
 person during the coverture; for then the disability 
 existing would have prevented such action by her. 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 l S 
 
 Grigby v. Cox, i Ves. Sr. 517; Billon v. Grace, 1 Sch. 
 & Lefr. 456. Story's Eq. § 1390-1393. These dis- 
 tinctions, however, are no longer material under the 
 recent decisions about to be mentioned. 
 
 The language of Lord Langdale's opinion in Stead 
 v. Nelson was broad enough to cover all kinds of prop- 
 erty and quantity of estate, for he said that the words, 
 "for her separate use," gave the feme covert, during the 
 coverture, the same right over the estate as she would 
 have had if she had been a feme sole. Yet twelve years 
 later, in 1851, when the point came squarely before the 
 court on a bill for specific performance, Lord Romilly, 
 M. R., refused to say that the power of disposition of a 
 married woman extended to the inheritance of her sepa- 
 rate real estate — but said that unless some distinct au- 
 thority could be produced, he considered the question 
 too doubtful to compel a purchaser to take. And no* 
 authority being shown, he refused a decree. Harris v. 
 Mott, 14 Beavan, 169. 
 
 But meanwhile the doctrines of the court with respect 
 to separate use were gradually working out to their 
 logical conclusion, and we have reason to believe that 
 the profession in England was entirely prepared for the 
 decision of Lord Chancellor Westbury in 1865, wherein 
 it was for the first time unequivocally laid down as the 
 rule that a married woman must be, for all -purposes, re- 
 garded as difeme sole, with respect to her separate estate, 
 personal or real ; and that where the inheritance is in- 
 cluded in the limitation to separate use, the right of 
 alienation by deed or will, without the consent of the 
 
1 6 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 husband, must extend to it also. In effect, that so far 
 as the separate estate is concerned, no matter what the 
 kind or quantity of estate may be, the disability of 
 coverture does not exist. Taylor v. Meads, 34 L. J. 
 Rep. Ch. 203. The case came before the chancellor on 
 appeal from the decree of Lord Romilly, M. R., who 
 had refused to decide the point. And it was deter- 
 mined upon the ground that the capacity of a married 
 woman to dispose of her separate estate does not spring 
 from any supposed or implied power of appointment 
 conferred upon . her by the settlement to her separate 
 use, but is simply the right of alienation which is an in- 
 separable incident to the ownership of land in fee. 
 And this was well illustrated by the facts of the case 
 before the court, for the settlement in question ex- 
 pressly conferred upon the married woman a power of 
 appointment to be exercised in a manner specifically 
 pointed out. And it was argued, with some show of 
 reason, that inasmuch as a special power of appointment 
 was in terms given, that no further power of disposition 
 ought to be implied, for expressum facit cessare taciturn. 
 But it is well settled, and was so held in this case, that 
 an express gift of a limited power, will not derogate 
 from the absolute right of disposition which is an inci- 
 dent to the separate estate, for the reasons already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The same doctrine was held in the subsequent case of 
 Pride v. Bubb, decided by Lord Hatherley in 1871 (7 
 Law R. Ch. App. 69), and again in Noble v. Willock, 
 decided by Lord Selborne in 1873 (8 L. R. Ch. App. 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 *7 
 
 787), as being now settled beyond dispute. Indeed, 
 the court, in the first mentioned case adverted to 
 " doubts existing in some part of the profession " prior 
 to Taylor v. Meads (supra) as if that case had announced 
 a principle generally received at the time, and which 
 needed only an official confirmation. 
 
 Without going into particulars, it may be mentioned 
 that a similar growth can be observed in the doctrine of 
 the wife's capacity to bind her separate estate for debts 
 contracted by herself. Like the question of her power 
 to sell or mortgage it, this doctrine was for a long time 
 entangled with the idea that a married woman, being 
 under disability, could act upon her separate property 
 only by virtue of a power, express or implied, incident 
 to the separate use — and that what she did took effect 
 by way of appointment of a use. This theory was 
 shaken, the leading case of Hulme v. Tenant, 1 Ldg. Cas. 
 in Eq. *394, in which Lord Thurlow decided that a 
 married woman's bond, given jointly with her husband, 
 binds her separate estate and is to be paid from it, al- 
 though no reference whatever be made in the bond to 
 the separate property as a fund for payment. But even 
 after this authority, it was held that the contract of the 
 feme covert to be valid, was required to be in writing — 
 and that, because a mere verbal contract cannot operate 
 as an appointment, the separate estate was not bound 
 by her " general engagements " unless written. Botton v. 
 Williams, 1 Ves. Jr. 142 ; Chester v. Piatt, 1 V. & B. 
 334 ; Murray v. Barlee, 4 Sim. 82. This last mentioned 
 case was affirmed by Lord Brougham, 3 My. & K. 210, 
 
1 8 Separate use in Pennsylvania. 
 
 on the ground that the debt, a solicitor's costs, was con- 
 tracted in writing, as the married woman had written a 
 letter to the solicitor retaining him to represent her in 
 a suit. But the opinion was expressed, extrajudicially, 
 that the claim would have been valid if based upon a 
 verbal contract. In Johnson v. Gallagher, 3 DeG. F. & 
 J. 513, it was laid down in very plain terms that not 
 only the bonds, bills and promissory notes of married 
 women, but their general engagements also, may bind 
 their separate estates — and this case, decided in 1861, 
 has many times been affirmed, the only point remaining 
 open for dispute being the scope and meaning of the 
 term " general engagements." Mrs. Matthewmari s Case, 
 3 L. R. Eq. 781. The underlying principle was that it 
 was a question of intention — whether the parties to the 
 contract creating' the debt meant that it should be paid 
 'from the separate estate — and certainly the rule stated 
 in Tullett v. Armstrong, 4 Beavan, 319, was broad 
 enough to include almost every possible case : that 
 where the contract was such that, considering the dis- 
 ability of the married woman, it could only be satisfied 
 from the separate property, the inference was conclusive 
 that there was an intention on her part to bind that 
 property. This was the reasoning adopted in the recent 
 case of The London Bank v. Lempriere, 4 L. J. P. C. 572, 
 and it is difficult to see, after the opinions there deliv- 
 ered, what further length remains to be traversed, al- 
 though the Justices did say expressly that it was not 
 every contract of a married woman which would render 
 her separate estate liable. The term " general engage- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 19 
 
 ments" was defined to include cases of common verbal 
 assumpsit. But perhaps, a short quotation will better 
 show the tone in which the subject was considered 
 by the court. Lord Justice James, said, in deliver- 
 ing his opinion. " It would be very inconvenient 
 " that a married woman, with a large separate prop- 
 " erty, should not be able to employ a solicitor, or 
 " a surveyor, or a builder, or tradesman, or hire la- 
 " bourers, or servants; and very unjust, if she did, 
 " that they should have no remedy against such sepa- 
 " rate property." 
 
 The same opinion quoted the language of Lord 
 Langdale in Tullett v. Armstrong, which I have men- 
 tioned, and adopted it as correct. Taking this as a 
 basis, what contract is there to pay money, which a mar- 
 ried woman can make, which would not be construed as 
 intended by her to be satisfied from her separate prop- 
 erty ? Certainly she has no other means of making 
 payment under her control. If she contracts a debt 
 she means to pay it ; and if she 1 means to pay it, it 
 must be from her separate estate. Story's Eq. §1400. 
 It would seem therefore that the only contracts of a 
 married woman which will not bind her separate estate, 
 are those by which, at common law, she has the right to 
 bind her husband, as for necessaries. 
 
 Looking at the Pennsylvania authorities, we see that 
 the very reverse of the English doctrine as to a married 
 woman's capacity to deal with her separate estate in 
 equity has been adopted and steadily maintained. 
 
20 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 There are to be found but a few reported cases on 
 the subject of separate use prior to the leading one of 
 Lancaster v. Dolan, i Raw. 23 1 (with which every stu- 
 dent of law in Pennsylvania is, or ought to be, familiar), 
 and only one of these is on the subject of the married 
 woman's capacity, being in direct accord with the Eng- 
 lish authorities as they existed in 18 15, when it was 
 decided, New/in v. Newlin, 1 S. & R. 275. In this 
 case, Chief Justice Tilghman quoted and adopted the 
 language of Lord Hardwicke, as to the wife's being 
 considered a feme sole in respect to her separate personal 
 property, and held that she might dispose absolutely of 
 a sum of money vested in trustees, the interest and in- 
 come of which they were directed to pay for her separate 
 use. 
 
 Mr. Binney, who argued for plaintiff in error (and 
 was defeated), in Lancaster v. Dolan, rested this branch 
 of his case with great confidence on the authority of 
 Newlin v. Newlin, as having settled the law in Pennsyl- 
 vania beyond question. But C. J. Gibson, in his opin- 
 ion, disposes of it with characteristic brevity. He says, 
 " Newlin v. Newlin was hastily determined on an excep- 
 tion to evidence," and then proceeds to consider the 
 question de novo, without any reference to former deci- 
 sions ; resting his judgment on the reasoning, and 
 adopting the conclusion, of Chancellor Kent in Metho- 
 dist Church v. Jaques, 3 J. C. 77, although the Great 
 Chancellor's decree in that case had been reversed long 
 before by the Court of Errors of New York : Jaques 
 v. Methodist Church, 17 Johns. 548 ; as was stated by 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 21 
 
 Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll in his argument for defendant 
 in error. 
 
 It is curious to note that neither of the two great 
 lawyers (Binney and Kent) who entertained opinions 
 on this subject thus totally diverse and opposite to each 
 other, and who both suffered defeat (so to speak) in the 
 two cases referred to, ever gave up the views they then 
 so ably advocated. Chancellor Kent, in his Commen- 
 taries, long after he had left the bench, mentions the 
 overruling decision of the Court of Errors in Jaques v. 
 Methodist Church, as unfortunately withdrawing from the 
 wife a needed protection, and considers the opinion 
 declared in that case, in the Court of Chancery, as the 
 better doctrine. (2 Kent Com. *i6$ and note a.) And 
 Mr. Binney, in his very interesting sketches of the 
 Leaders of the Old Bar, published in 1859, after his 
 retirement from active practice, thus refers to Lancaster 
 v. Do/an. " The case of Newlin v. New/in, 1 S. & R., 
 " which asserted the right of a married woman to dis- 
 " pose of her separate trust estate unless restrained by 
 " the deed of trust, was argued by Edward Tilghman 
 " and John Sergeant, and was decided in banc after 
 " mature consideration by Chief Justice Tilghman and 
 " Justice Yeates, who delivered full opinions affirming 
 " the right. The case of Do/an v. Lancaster, 1 Rawle, 
 " in the time of Chief Justice Gibson, overruled New- 
 " tin v. Newlin, and swept away every vestige of au- 
 " thority from a married woman during coverture to 
 " alienate or pledge her separate trust estate. C. J. 
 " Gibson said that ' Newlin v. Newlin was hastily deter- 
 
2 2 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 " mined upon an exception to evidence.' He never 
 " made a greater mistake, unless when he overruled the 
 " authority. It was argued upon pre-existing authori- 
 " ties, which are cited in the report, -and came before 
 " the court upon a writ of error to the Common Pleas. 
 " It has taken more than one act of Assembly to patch 
 " the hole in the law that was made by Dolan v. Lan- 
 " caster, and it is not well patched yet." 
 
 The rule laid down in Lancaster v. Dolan was reiter- 
 ated by the same judge with greater terseness in the 
 following case of Thomas v. Folwell, i Whart. 16. After 
 recapitulating the reasons why a married woman should 
 not have power of disposition over property settled to 
 her separate use, he adds : " We therefore hold it to be 
 " the settled law of Pennsylvania, that instead of having 
 " every power from which she is not negatively debarred 
 " in the conveyance, she shall be deemed to have none 
 " but what is positively given or reserved to her." 
 
 This was not only in contravention of the English 
 equity doctrine, then established, but it created a disa- 
 bility even beyond that which prevented a married 
 woman from dealing with her legal estate according to 
 the Common Law. In effect, it implied a restraint 
 upon alienation as an incident of the limitation to the 
 separate use. For by the old common law, a married 
 woman might dispose of her inheritance by concur- 
 ring with her husband in levying a fine with separate 
 acknowledgment. And by the common law of Penn- 
 sylvania, from early provincial times, indeed, there is 
 warrant for saying, ever since the settlement of the 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 2 3 
 
 Province, she had the same power of disposition by 
 a deed made jointly with her husband, and acknowl- 
 edged on separate examination according to the custom 
 of London (4 Cruise Dig. 23). This is expressly 
 stated in the preamble to the Act of 1770, which con- 
 firmed such grants, and regulated the manner of taking 
 such acknowledgments in the future ; 1 Sm. Laws, 307. 
 The deed under consideration in Lancaster v. Dolan, 
 was a mortgage which would have been valid if Mrs. 
 Tacy Rogers — the married woman — had been seised by 
 a legal title. It was made by her husband and herself, 
 acknowledged by the husband, and upon a separate ex- 
 amination in due form by the wife, and duly recorded. 
 The point was made in the argument, that it was within 
 the statute which declared that such a conveyance 
 should be as valid as if it were executed by a feme 
 sole, but it was not noticed in C. J. Gibson's opinion. 
 There were trustees interposed in Mrs. Rogers' settle- 
 ment, and consequently neither her husband nor her- 
 self had the legal title ; and, moreover, the conveyance 
 by her was — as stated — a mortgage, and not an abso- 
 lute deed ; so that, in the view of a court of equity, 
 the transferee was only a creditor, and one not pro- 
 tected by having the legal title; and therefore, the 
 opinion adopted by the court, that the mere limitation 
 to separate use, includes, without more, an absolute 
 restraint upon alienation, settled the question without 
 reference to the statute. 
 
 I may say here, while on the subject of the act of 
 1770, that in a subsequent case, where land was devised 
 
24 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 directly to a married woman, in fee, " for her separate 
 use, notwithstanding her marriage," without the inter- 
 position of trustees ; and she and her husband joined 
 in a deed separately acknowledged, conveying it to a 
 stranger ; it was held that the legal title passed to the 
 grantee by the joint deed. It was competent to pass 
 the wife's legal estate under the statute, and the hus- 
 band s legal estate by the common law ; so that, 
 although the grantee was a trustee for the wife, in 
 whom the use or beneficial interest remained, yet he 
 had acquired a legal estate on which he might maintain 
 ejectment against an intruder. Heath v. Knapp, 4 Barr, 
 228. The opinion is published as "per curiam" but 
 was very probably written by C. J. Gibson himself. 
 (Affirmed in Dull v. Heath, 7 Barr, 85.) 
 
 It was only natural that the Supreme Court, having 
 adopted this construction of the separate use limita- 
 tions, totally disabling the wife from any act of direct 
 alienation of the property so settled, should also say 
 that it should not be indirectly alienated by being 
 bound for the contracts of the married woman ; for 
 the doctrine was, that the separate use implied and 
 included the taking away of all capacity whatever, ex- 
 cept that of receiving and appropriating the income ; 
 and, moreover, the power to bind herself or her prop- 
 erty by contract of any kind was wanting to a married 
 woman at common law. Consequently the ruling in 
 Dorrance v. Scott, 3 Wharton, 312, that the bond of a 
 married woman, given jointly with her husband, was 
 absolutely void as to her, and had no claim to be paid 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 25 
 
 from her separate estate, was only following the prin- 
 ciple of Lancaster v. Do/an to its logical conclusion. 
 And it was in keeping with the same principle to say, 
 as was said in that case, that such a bond could not be 
 considered an execution of a power of sale which was 
 expressly given to the wife in the settlement, the pur- 
 chase money to be applied at her pleasure ; because 
 there was nothing in the bond to show that it was 
 meant as an execution of the power, or that the parties 
 intended it to be considered a charge upon the prop- 
 erty, and it could not of itself be made to imply such 
 an intention. Considering that we derived the doctrine 
 of separate use from the decisions of the English Court 
 of Chancery, a better idea of the wide divergence we 
 have made from our starting point in this matter can- 
 not be gained, than by comparing the opinion of Jus- 
 tice Kennedy, in Dorrance v. Scott, with that of Lord 
 Thurlow, in Hulme v. Tenant (supra, p. 17), which was 
 also on the validity of just such a joint bond, and 
 which narrowly escaped being of authority in Penn- 
 sylvania, being decided in 1778. They are antagonistic 
 at every point. But Dorrance v. Scott is law in Pennsyl- 
 vania to-day. It was affirmed shortly afterwards in 
 the very similar case of Wallace v. Coston, 9 Watts, 
 137, and has never been doubted. 
 
 The avowed reasons which influenced the Supreme 
 Court to establish a doctrine so different from that of 
 the English Chancery as was declared in Lancaster v. 
 Dolan, and the other cases that have been mentioned, 
 
 were — as before stated — the same as those given by 
 
 4 
 
26 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Chancellor Kent in the Court of Chancery of New 
 York, /. e., that to give the wife uncontrolled power of 
 disposition, would subject her to the risk of " being 
 coaxed or bullied out of her property" by her husband, 
 and would leave her really less protected by having a 
 settlement to her separate use, professedly independent 
 of him, than if she had remained subject to her common 
 law disability. Certainly, the matter being conceded to 
 be res Integra, there can be no objection to the adoption 
 of this view of the meaning of that kind of settlement. 
 The obvious general intent of the separate use is to 
 protect the wife, by excluding the husband from all in- 
 terference whatever. The English Chancellors effec- 
 tuated this intention by ignoring his existence, and con- 
 sidering the wife with respect to the property as if she 
 were a feme sole — a woman without a husband — and it 
 must be admitted that in the recent decisions they have 
 not shrunk from the conclusions logically deducible 
 from these premises. But the husband does exist, 
 nevertheless ; his authority over his wife is sanctioned by 
 the plainest teachings of religion, and he has unlimited 
 opportunities to influence her to do his bidding. And 
 the purpose of the settlement being to exclude him en- 
 tirely, it is very reasonable to make the construction 
 such as will render the exclusion effectual, whether his 
 influence is exerted indirectly by persuasion, or directly 
 by the power conferred on him by the common law. 
 
 The only wonder is that the distinguished judge who 
 decided Lancaster v. Do/an, and whose well known par- 
 tiality for the common law was so great, should have 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 2J 
 
 extended the disability to a total restraint upon aliena- 
 tion, in direct opposition to the common law rule, for- 
 bidding such restraint. But on the subject of a hus- 
 band grasping at his wife's inheritance, and endeavoring 
 to acquire for himself the corpus of her real property, 
 C. J. Gibson always felt strongly. Take, as an illus- 
 tration, his sweeping remark in Ferree v. The Common- 
 wealth, 8 S. & R. 312: "For myself," he says, "I 
 " shall never consent to give effect to a claim by the 
 " husband, or those in his stead, to what was at any 
 " time the wife's real estate, when it is possible to de- 
 " feat it by any construction, however forced." 
 
 There was another consideration which doubtless had 
 weight, as it deserved to have, upon the minds of the 
 judges in reaching the conclusion they did; and that 
 is, that in 1829, when Lancaster v. Do/an was decided, 
 the courts in Pennsylvania were without equity juris- 
 diction, and were therefore unable to give to the wife 
 and to those who dealt with her, that full protection in 
 the exercise of a separate capacity to dispose of prop- 
 erty, which was constantly and readily afforded by the 
 more elastic and convenient proceedings in the Court of 
 Chancery. If our court had followed the English deci- 
 sions, and given the wife the power and responsiblity 
 of a feme sole, that must necessarily have included the 
 adoption of the equity doctrine that a married woman 
 may maintain or defend an action with respect to her 
 separate property, without the joinder of her husband, 
 or even against him ; for, to give a wife a right, inde- 
 pendent of her husband, without also giving her the 
 
28 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 corresponding remedy to enforce that right with equal 
 independence, would be almost a contradiction in 
 terms. The remedy must be as extensive as the right, 
 or the right itself is abridged. How far this would have 
 been an innovation on our settled practice is well shown 
 by the case of "Towers v. Hagner, 3 Whart. 48, where 
 Mrs. Towers, who had a separate estate, made loans to 
 her husband from the income of it, and after his death, 
 she claimed to be repaid by his executors ; but as a 
 long time had elapsed since the loans were made, they 
 interposed the bar of the statute of limitations. The 
 court held that the statute did not begin to run until the 
 death of the husband, because the right of action was 
 suspended until then, on account of. the inability, of 
 the wife to maintain an action against her husband. 
 
 The doctrines thus established remained unques- 
 tioned until, by the passage of the Married Woman's 
 Act in 1 848, the common law as to the rights of a hus- 
 band in his wife's property during her lifetime was 
 practically abolished. And it was enacted that "Every 
 c species and description of property, whether consist- 
 ' ing of real, personal or mixed, which may be owned 
 c by or belong to any single woman, shall continue to 
 c be the property of such woman as fully after her mar- 
 ' riage as before : and all such property, of whatever 
 c name or kind, which shall accrue to any married 
 ' woman during coverture, by will, descent, deed of 
 ' conveyance or otherwise, shall be owned, used, and 
 ' enjoyed by such married woman, as her own separate 
 ' property." The change in the construction of that 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 29 
 
 act, as to the capacity thereby given to married women, 
 has often been remarked. In 1851, under the new 
 system of electing the judiciary, fresh judges came on 
 the Supreme bench. The former court had been in 
 favor of a liberal construction, and in various dicta they 
 declared that, under the act, a married woman had all 
 the power of a feme sole to dispose of her property, by 
 will or otherwise. Cummingss Appeal, 1 Jones, 272, 
 Goodyear v. Rumbaugh, 1 Har. 482. And, as naturally 
 followed, they held that she could bring an action in her 
 own name without joining her husband. Sheidle v. 
 Weishlee, 4 Har. 134. 
 
 The new court soon turned the tide in the other 
 direction, and in Peck v. Ward, 6 Har. 506, they began 
 a strict construction of the act which has been since fol- 
 lowed, almost without interruption, to the present time, 
 preserving intact the common law disability of the wife 
 in all cases where it could be done without a direct con- 
 travention of the statutory provisions. As was said by 
 Justice Sharswood in Moore v. Cornell, 18 P. F. Smith, 
 320, " the great object of the act of 1848 was to secure 
 " the property of a married woman against her husband 
 " and his creditors. It did not confer upon her any 
 " power or capacity which she did not possess before, 
 " except that of making a will and of binding her estate 
 " by a contract for necessaries, and, perhaps, * * * a 
 " contract for the repair and improvement of her real 
 " estate." {Lippincott v. Leeds, Weekly Notes, 230.) 
 
 The interpretation first adopted is certainly the more 
 literal one. To an ordinary reader the plain meaning 
 
3° 
 
 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 of the act would seem to be that a woman is to own, 
 use and enjoy her estate as fully after marriage as before. 
 She cannot do so, if she is deprived of the right to dis- 
 pose of it at her pleasure. The right of ownership in- 
 cludes the right of alienation, and, as a single woman 
 can convey her property before marriage of her own 
 free will, and without the consent of any one, so it was 
 not an unreasonable construction to say that the statute 
 conferred the same capacity upon the married woman. 
 
 This much was candidly admitted by Justice Wood- 
 ward in the opinion delivered by him in Pettit v. Fretz's 
 Executor, 9 Casey, 120, in which he ably set forth the 
 grounds on which the new court had based their change 
 in the mode of construing the act ; the principal reason 
 being that the other interpretation, by rendering the 
 wife entirely independent of her husband, would loosen 
 the bonds of the marriage relation, break up the unity 
 of the family, and result in social disorganization — 
 which would prove in the end a greater evil than the 
 one meant to be remedied by the statute. 
 
 But it is to the effect of the Married Woman's Act 
 upon the separate estate in equity that I wish to direct 
 your attention. This question did not reach the 
 Supreme Court until 1855. There was the case, prior 
 to that time, of Wilson v. McCullough, 7 Har. 84; 9 
 Har. 440, which was based upon a mortgage of separate 
 property by husband and wife ; but the validity of the 
 mortgage in question had been adjudicated long before 
 by the court. 3 Wharton, 472. The first case which 
 brought the points up for decision was Haines v. Ellis, 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 31 
 
 12 Harris, 253. This case has been since overruled, 
 but, perhaps for that reason, it will be interesting to 
 examine the grounds upon which it was decided, and the 
 reasons for which it was reversed. Let me make a 
 brief statement of the facts, and the conclusion reached 
 upon them. 
 
 Land had been conveyed to Mrs. Hutchinson, a mar- 
 ried woman, habendum to her and her heirs and assigns, 
 " to and for the only sole, separate and proper use and be- 
 hoof of the said E. A. Hutchinson, her heirs and as- 
 signs forever." By deed duly executed and acknowl- 
 edged by herself and her husband, they conveyed the 
 land to Haines, who contracted to sell it to Ellis and 
 convey a good title to him. Ellis refused to take the 
 title and Haines brought suit in the District Court of 
 Philadelphia, for the purchase money. The only ques- 
 tion raised was the validity of the deed to Haines. 
 The District Court entered judgment for the defendant, 
 and Haines took a writ of error. The argument in the 
 Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiff in error ap- 
 pears by the report to have been that the effect of the 
 act of 1848 was to deprive the separate use limitation 
 of the implied restriction upon alienation so thoroughly 
 established as part of the law of Pennsylvania. The 
 other side relied on Lancaster v. Do/an, Thomas v. Fol- 
 well, and the other well known cases on that subject. 
 The opinion of C. J. Lewis, reversing the judgment of 
 the court below, does not seem to deal directly with the 
 main question argued, and which was in dispute before 
 the court. After showing how far the doctrine of Cum- 
 
32 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 mings's Appeal had been qualified and restrained by the 
 subsequent decisions, and stating the law as to the ne- 
 cessity of the husband's joining in the wife's convey- 
 ance, he decides that the deed from Mrs. Hutchinson 
 and her husband was in proper form ; and then con- 
 tinues : — " This brings us to the question, had she a 
 " clear estate in the land. The deed gave her a fee 
 " simple. * * * It is not necessary to consider whether 
 " the language in the deed would have deprived her 
 " husband of all interest in the land after her death. 
 " By joining in the conveyance he has relinquished all 
 " his rights, whatever they may have been. With the 
 " exception of his rights after her death, the deed to 
 " Mrs. Hutchinson gave her precisely the same estate 
 " which any conveyance in the ordinary form of a deed in fee 
 " simple would give, since the act of 1848. There is no - 
 " trust created. There is no trustee appointed ; nor is 
 " there any occasion for one. There is no restriction 
 " imposed by the conveyance upon her right to sell. 
 " It is not the case of a power, but of an interest. * * 
 " The title tendered is such as the contract requires." 
 
 It seems to me, on reading this opinion, that the 
 learned judge meant to decide that, since the act of 
 1 848, a limitation to separate use. could not be made 
 without the interposition of trustees, and only in the 
 regular form of a special trust ; so far overruling the 
 previous decisions that a trustee is not necessary. 
 (Jamison v. Brady, 6 S. & R. 466 ; Cochran v. a Hern, 
 4 W. & S. 95 ; Heath v. Knapp, 4 Barr, 228 ; Heck v. 
 Clippenger, 5 Barr, 385 ; Snyder v. Snyder, 10 Barr, 423.) 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 33 
 
 And this view is strengthened by the remark of Justice 
 Lowrie, made very shortly afterwards in Todd's Appeal, 
 12 Har. 431, that the expression separate estate "always 
 " refers to an equitable estate held by somebody in trust 
 " for a married woman. If she has the legal title to the 
 " land, she has no separate estate in it, for the legal in- 
 " cidents of the marriage relation accompany it." 
 
 That the Married Women's Act could not have this 
 effect under the rulings of the court prior to Haines v. 
 Ellis, seems to be plain ; for, aside from the rule — said 
 to be without an exception — that equity never wants a 
 trustee, the act expressly saved to the husband his right 
 as tenant by the curtesy, which was held to be vested in 
 him during the lifetime of the wife, and therefore there 
 was no reason why he could not be held to be trustee 
 of the separate real estate, as well after the act as before, 
 if such purely technical reasoning had been admissible. 
 
 There is one consideration, however, of a practical 
 nature, upon which it might be expected that the pass- 
 ing of the act would more or less affect the views of the 
 court in construing limitations to separate use. Prior 
 to 1 848, there were many instances of extreme hardship, 
 where the property of a wife was in danger of being 
 swept away from her by her husband or his creditors in 
 the exercise of their common law rights. It is more 
 than probable, that the frequent recurrence of these led 
 to the enactment of so radical a change in the law as 
 that made in the statute. And, no doubt, the same 
 reasons had influenced the judges to be subtle in finding 
 means to protect a woman placed in such unhappy cir- 
 
34 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 cumstances. There was certainly manifested by the court 
 in some cases a disposition to construe devises and be- 
 quests as creating a separate use, where the language used, 
 or the condition of the parties, would barely warrant 
 such an interpretation. As, for instance, in. Snyder v. 
 Snyder, 10 Barr, 423. The gift in that case was made 
 by the will of a husband, who bequeathed property to 
 his wife, " for her own proper use, during her lifetime," 
 with remainder over; and it was held that a separate 
 use was created which took effect upon a second marriage. 
 That a separate use cannot be limited for an unmarried 
 woman, unless in immediate contemplation of marriage, 
 is certainly well settled in this State since Hammersley v. 
 Smith, 4 Wharton, 126 (Wells v. McCall, 14 P. F. 
 Smith, 207), and it would be too violent a presumption 
 to suppose that the husband, in making the bequest to 
 his wife, had his successor in immediate contemplation. 
 So far as the words of the limitation are concerned, " for 
 her own proper use," there was authority for saying that 
 they created a separate use, in the decision of Jamison 
 v. Brady, 6 S. & R. 466, where the phrase " for her own 
 use," was held to produce that effect. But Jamison v. 
 Brady also was a " hard case," which commanded, and 
 doubtless had, the sympathy of the court. Since the 
 Married Women's Act, however, cases of this nature 
 do not occur, and the principal reason for such con- 
 struction has ceased to exist, for the only effect pro- 
 duced by the separate use limitation, different from that 
 caused by force of the statute, is that there is an implied 
 absolute restraint upon alienation in the one case which 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 35 
 
 does not exist in the other. Protection against the 
 direct interference of a grasping husband and his credi- 
 tors is afforded by both alike. 
 
 . It may be added that the restraint upon alienation, 
 implied from words which convey no such idea, except 
 to the mind of the educated lawyer, is, in the case of 
 real property, open to the same serious objection as 
 that urged against implied covenants of general war- 
 ranty from the granting words in a deed; 4 Kent, Com. 
 *474., " It has bad effects," said C. J. Tilghman, " to 
 " annex to words an arbitrary meaning, far more exten- 
 " sive than their usual import, and which must be un- 
 " known to all but professional men." Lessee of Gratz 
 v. Ewalt, 2 Binney, gg. There is danger of imposition 
 on the ignorant or the unwary, if the total lack of 
 capacity to sell and convey in the usual manner is con- 
 tained in, or results from, words which express no such 
 meaning to the ordinary understanding. 
 
 The two instances I have cited were both of them 
 gifts of personal property, but I am not aware that 
 any clear distinction between personal and real estate 
 has been established in construing the settlements to 
 separate use. 
 
 Haines v. Ellis was expressly overruled in Wright 
 v. Brown, 8 Wright, 224. Before it was overruled, 
 however, *he court had decided that the separate use 
 had not been abolished by the Married Women's Act, 
 but that a new separate estate had been thereby created, 
 which was distinguished from the old separate estate in 
 equity, and called the legal separate estate. Penna. Co. 
 
36 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 v. Foster, 11 Cas. 134. And here, too, we find the 
 same idea before expressed in Haines v. Ellis, and in 
 Todd's Appeal. It was held that the limitation in ques- 
 tion was a separate estate, " because," says the opinion, 
 " the principal is committed to a trustee to manage it, and 
 " to pay the income to Mrs. C. on her receipt as it 
 " shall become due, and free from all claim or interfer- 
 " ence of her husband. This arrangement contains all 
 " the elements of a trust estate, and therefore is subject 
 " to the principle of equity that the wife has no power 
 " over it that is not expressed in the instrument by 
 " which the trust is created." 
 
 The controversy in Wright v. Brown, arose upon the 
 construction of two wills, in both of which property 
 was devised directly to a married woman, without any 
 trustee or formal words of trust, but the separate use 
 was declared in apt and explicit terms. A very able 
 opinion was delivered by Justice Strong, overruling 
 Haines v. Ellis, and affirming with emphasis all the doc- 
 trines of the earlier cases : — that a trustee is not neces- 
 sary ; that the restraint upon alienation of the corpus 
 of the separate property is absolute ; and deciding also 
 that the act of 1848 has no reference whatever to 
 estates held for separate use. 
 
 It may be suggested here that it remains yet an unde- 
 cided point whether the act did not confer up*on a mar- 
 ried woman the power to make a will, disposing of 
 property settled to her separate use. Brusadow v. Wilde, \ 
 13 P. F. Smith, 170, 172. Before the act she certainly 
 possessed no such capacity, and if the act has no refer- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 37 
 
 ence whatever to such estates, it would follow that the 
 power was not given. The case of Alexander v. Paxson, 
 II Wright, 12, may be cited as sustaining a contrary 
 doctrine, but I think it can hardly be relied on as an 
 authority for it, as the property in question in that case 
 was an investment of the income of the separate estate, 
 
 I might stop here in this review of the later author- 
 ities, for the ruling in Wright v. Brown remains un- 
 shaken, and must be considered as the settled law of 
 Pennsylvania on this subject at the present time. But 
 I pass on to notice one more step, without which the 
 history of separate use would hardly be complete. 
 
 The opinion in Wright v. Brown was delivered Feb- 
 ruary 1 6th, 1863. The legislature was then in session. 
 It is a very probable conjecture that the act of 22d 
 April, 1863, was the immediate result of that judg- 
 ment of the Supreme Court. How many titles had 
 passed depending on the soundness of the ruling in 
 Haines v. Ellis, in the eight years which had elapsed be- 
 fore it was overruled, we cannot know. Only three 
 such cases have reached the Supreme Court. {Wright 
 v. Brown, supra; Jones's Appeal, 7 P. F. Sm. 369, and 
 Shonk v. Brown, 11 P. F. Sm. 327.) The act pur- 
 ported to validate all conveyances and mortgages of 
 equitable separate estate previously made by a married 
 woman and her husband by deed duly acknowledged, 
 in cases where there had been no interposition of a 
 trustee. The effect evidently intended to be produced 
 was that the decision of Wright v. Brown, should be 
 deprived' of all retro-active force, and that the parties 
 
3 8 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 who had bought on the faith of the previous decisions 
 should be left in the possession of good titles. 
 
 The act was clearly unconstitutional. The purpose 
 may have been right, but the end could not justify the 
 means. It being settled that the Married Women's 
 Act applied only to legal estates, and that it had no 
 reference whatever to the separate use ; then the law 
 remained unchanged as to the latter, and the deed of 
 the married woman and her husband conveyed no bene- 
 ficial interest whatever. As was said in Shonk v. Brown, 
 ii P. F. Sm. 327, the conveyance was void, not be- 
 cause of any defect Inform, but from want of power to 
 convey in any form, a defect of substance, and there- 
 fore, the validity of the act cannot be sustained, unless 
 the legislature has power to take property from one 
 private person and give it to another. 
 
 I have already endeavored to show that the restraint 
 upon alienation incident to the separate use was some- 
 thing greater than — and entirely beyond the common 
 law disability incident to coverture. (Supra p. 22.) 
 
 In the reign of James I., since which time the doc- 
 trines of separate use took their rise, it had long been 
 settled at common law that a married woman might con- 
 vey her land by joining her husband in levying a fine, 
 with conusance by her on separate examination. The 
 deed with separate acknowledgment was nothing but a 
 substitute for the more tedious and expensive method 
 of conveying by fine. Both were recognized forms 
 of conveyance. So far as regards Pennsylvania, the 
 capacity to convey by deed, duly executed and acknowl- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 39 
 
 edged by husband and wife, was as much a common 
 law capacity as that of joining in a fine. There were 
 fines levied in Pennsylvania, as is mentioned by C. 
 J. Tilghman, in Lyle v. Richards, 9 S. & R. 331, 
 but they were probably not used to enable married 
 women to convey or bar dower, as they were unnec- 
 essary for that purpose. The common law disability 
 of coverture, therefore, fell far short of a total re- 
 straint upon alienation. 
 
 That the restraint incident* to the separate use is 
 limited to the existence of the coverture is true, but 
 it is not apparent how it can be entirely the result of 
 the coverture. Why should coverture disable a woman 
 more entirely in equity than at law ? There is no such 
 absolute disability incident to the ordinary equitable 
 estate, not settled to the separate use of a married 
 woman ; it is peculiar to that species of settlement. 
 Then, if the total restraint be not the result of the 
 coverture, whence does it arise ? It seems to me clear 
 that it must come from the intention of the settlor in 
 making the gift in such terms. -The construction of 
 such settlements adopted in Lancaster v. Do/an, and 
 the subsequent cases, was that it was the intention of the 
 giver that the wife should be totally disabled, in order 
 that the husband might be effectually excluded. As 
 Chancellor Kent says in Methodist Episcopal Church v. 
 Jacques, " it is a question of construction and intention 
 merely." It is not a negative case, where power is 
 simply not given, but rather one in which an existing 
 capacity is positively taken away. 
 
40 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 If it be true then that the total absence of power to 
 dispose of the separate property results from the terms 
 of the deed or will by which it is settled, and is a re- 
 striction imposed upon the gift by the giver, then it 
 seems to follow that any act of Assembly either vali- 
 dating a conveyance of the separate estate already made, 
 or authorizing one to be made in futuro, in violation 
 of the terms of the gift, would be a breach of the 
 constitutional provision against impairing the obliga- 
 tion of contracts. Consequently the Act of 1863 
 was not only unconstitutional as it stood, being en- 
 tirely retrospective, but it would have been equally 
 open to objection, if it had purported to empower 
 married women and their husbands to dispose of 
 equitable separate estates then already in existence. 
 Rogers v. Smith, 4 Barr, 93. 
 
 There was one of the litigants in the Supreme Court 
 who met with a happier fate than did the plaintiffs 
 in the two similar cases which have been mentioned. 
 Having taken a conveyance from husband and wife, of 
 property settled to separate use, depending on the 
 soundness of Haines v. Ellis, the decision in Wright v. 
 Brown deprived him of his title. He procured the 
 passage of a special act of Assembly, conferring juris- 
 diction on the Court of Common Pleas to hear his 
 petition, and to decree a deed of confirmation from 
 husband and wife to him ratifying his title, without 
 requiring security. The Supreme Court held that 
 the act was constitutional, as it only conferred juris- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 41 
 
 diction on the court to hear and determine the case 
 in due course of legal procedure, and the decree was 
 made as prayed. Jones's Appeal, 7 P. F. Sm. 369. 
 
 But the new Constitution, in the Article on Legisla- 
 tion, forbids the passage of any local or special law 
 regulating the practice or jurisdiction of courts, and 
 it is likely that such a remedy as was applied in that 
 case is now beyond the power of the General Assem- 
 bly to grant. Art. III., Sec. 7. 
 
 It seems from the report of Jones's Appeal, that the 
 husband and wife were willing to confirm the title they 
 had imperfectly conveyed, as soon as it was in their 
 power to do so. Whenever that is true in any similar 
 case, it is always within the jurisdiction of the proper 
 court to decree the confirmation of the invalid prior 
 conveyance, under the supplement to the Price Act 
 (Act of 13 April, 1854, Sec. 3. Purdon, 12 16, pi. 
 13), upon the entry of satisfactory security for the 
 proper application of the purchase money. 
 
 There is one other question relating to the subject of 
 the separate use, in which there seems to be a lack of 
 entire harmony among our decisions, and I will briefly 
 mention it before concluding. The English cases have 
 established as a general rule, that a husband, after the 
 . death of his wife, was entitled to the same rights in her 
 equitable property, that he would have had at law, if the 
 wife had died seised or possessed by a legal title, and 
 that this rule applied to property held for separate use, 
 unless there was an evident intention in the settlement 
 to exclude the husband from all benefit. 1 Bright on 
 
 6 
 
42 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Husb. & Wife, 137. Bisset on Est. for Life, *$$• As 
 was said in Morgan v. Morgan, 5 Madd. 408, where such 
 intention does not clearly appear, the husband is par- 
 tially, but not wholly excluded from the enjoyment of 
 his wife's property. The court would, according to the 
 intention of the settlement, restrain him from all inter- 
 ference during the life of the wife ; but there being no 
 further exclusion expressed in the settlement, the court 
 would have no authority to restrain him from the enjoy- 
 ment of his general right as tenant by the curtesy in the 
 equitable inheritance of his wife." (See also Follett v. 
 Tyrer, 14 Sim. 125.) 
 
 The right of a husband to be tenant by the curtesy 
 of real estate settled to the separate use of his wife, 
 arose in Cochran v. O'Hern, 4 W. & S. 95, and was said 
 by Justice Rogers to be then a new point in this State. 
 In delivering the opinion of the court, he doubts the 
 soundness of Morgan v. Morgan, and seems rather in- 
 clined to adopt the prior opinion of Lord Hardwicke, 
 in Hearle v. Greenbank, 1 Vex. 298, where the question 
 was decided against the husband ; but the decision was 
 rested on the ground — admitted to be sufficient by all 
 the prior authorities — that there were words used in the 
 settlement which amounted to a clear and distinct ex- 
 pression of intention that the husband should be ex- 
 cluded from any interest whatever in the property. 
 
 In a case in the District Court of Philadelphia, 
 decided in 1851, Judge Sharswood seems to have 
 adopted the same opinion upon the general question, as 
 that expressed in the dictum of Justice Rogers, ahd to 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 43 
 
 have held that the bare limitation to separate use, with- 
 out express words, was sufficient to exclude the husband 
 from all interest in the property, as well after the wife's 
 death as in her lifetime. But the facts of the case are 
 not stated, and the scope of the opinion is therefore 
 somewhat indefinite. Ash v. Ash, 1 Phila. Rep. 176. 
 
 Shortly after Haines v. Ellis was decided, and long 
 before it was overruled, the question came again before 
 the Supreme Court in Bubs v. Bubs, 7 Cas. 149. The 
 limitation in the will in litigation was to trustees for 
 Mrs. Adelaide Dubs and her heirs, for her separate use, 
 and expressly excluded the control of the husband, while 
 it was silent as to his interest. The court below decided 
 against the husband, and the Supreme Court reversed 
 thejudgment and gave him curtesy. The judgment was 
 therefore, in accordance with the rule as established by 
 the English authorities, but the language of the opinion 
 favoured a ruling even in advance of them. "When a 
 " title is in fee simple, legal or equitable," said Justice 
 Lowrie, "all expressions in it, attempting to set aside 
 " the statutory order of descent, without providing a 
 " different one, must go for nothing." 
 
 Here then we see two cases, decided by the Supreme 
 Court, both of them in accord with the English au- 
 thorities ; and yet the reasoning contained in the re- 
 corded opinions entirely irreconcilable. The one in- 
 timating that the husband should be excluded from all 
 beneficial interest, even without express words to that 
 effect ; and the other saying that such an express exclu- 
 sion should not have any force, unless the limitation 
 
44 SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 differed from those usually construed to vest an estate 
 
 in fee. 
 
 Bubs v. Bubs was followed by Johnson v. Fritz, 8 
 Wright, 449, in which the property had been conveyed 
 by deed to a married woman and her heirs for her sepa- 
 rate use, with a clause which expressly excluded the 
 husband from "any tenancy by the curtesy, or other 
 matrimonial right." The court below remarked the 
 clause of exclusion, and admitted that no stronger 
 words expressing the intent of the grantor could be 
 used, but decided that they were inoperative under the 
 authority of Bubs v. Bubs ; and they directed a verdict 
 and judgment for the husband. The Supreme Court 
 reversed the judgment, but upon other grounds, the 
 opinion of Justice Lowrie expressly asserting that the 
 husband was entitled to curtesy on his wife's death, and 
 no dissent from the interpretation of Bubs v. Bubs 
 made by the inferior court, was expressed. So far as I 
 know, the question has not since been considered by 
 the Supreme Court. The recent case of Pages Estate, 
 25 P. F. Smith, 87, was upon the right of a surviving 
 husband to his wife's separate estate, but there was 
 nothing in the settlement (by will) to show an intention 
 to exclude the husband's interest, and it was held that 
 he took his share of both real and personal property 
 according to the intestate laws, 
 
 I have now, as you see, gentlemen, gone over but a 
 small portion of this interesting subject. I have not 
 touched upon the mode of creating the separate use ; 
 nor at all considered the question — perhaps most fre- 
 
SEPARATE USE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 45 
 
 quently discussed in our Supreme Court within the past 
 few years — of the validity of trusts where the separate 
 use is among the declared purposes of the settlement, 
 and there is no coverture existing or in immediate con- 
 templation — but I have confined my remarks mainly to 
 the point of the wife's capacity to dispose of the sepa- 
 rate property. It has been my endeavor to present not 
 only a brief history of the development of, and changes 
 in, this doctrine, but also to set forth the arguments and 
 reasons upon which those changes were made. A law- 
 yer who only knows the law because "it is so written," 
 without comprehending also the reasons why it is the 
 law, is indeed in a pitiful condition ; to have his mem- 
 ory overweighted with scraps of learning, necessarily 
 undigested, and having no recognized relation with each 
 other. As Coke says, " Ratio est anima legis — for then 
 ' are we said to know the law, when we apprehend the 
 c reason of the law ; that is, when we bring the reason 
 ' of the law so to our owne reason, that we perfectly 
 'understand it as our owne; and then, and never 
 c before, we have such an excellent and inseparable 
 ' propertie and ownership therein, as we can neither 
 ' lose it, nor any man take it from us ; and will direct 
 ' us (the learning of the law is so chained together) in 
 ' many other cases. But if, by your studie and indus- 
 ' trie, you make not the reason of the law your owne, 
 ' it is not possible for you long to retain it in your 
 c memorie." 
 " Lex plus laudatur quando ratione probatur." 
 
 Co. Litt. 394, b. 
 
THE 
 
 EQUITABLE. RELATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 Buyer and Seller of Land 
 
 UNDER CONTRACT AND BEFORE CONVEYANCE 
 
 TWO LECTURES BEFORE THE LAW ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA 
 
 E. COPPER MITCHELL 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 REES WELSH & CO 
 
 LAW BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS 
 
 N. W. Corner of Sixth and Walnut Streets 
 1877 
 
It is thought proper to explain that the following Lectures were 
 prepared for the Law Academy of Philadelphia, and were delivered 
 before the Academy, in April, 1877. They are printed as origin- 
 ally written, without material change. The publication of them 
 was not contemplated, but was afterwards suggested. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 9, 1877. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Specific Performance, General principles, 5- 8 
 
 I. — Requisites of Contract, . 9-20 
 
 British Statute of Frauds, . 9 
 
 Pennsylvania Statute of Frauds, 1 1 
 
 Who must sign Contract, 12 
 
 Form of Contract, . I 3~i7 
 
 No words fif Inheritance necessary, . 16 
 
 Part Performance, . . . 17-20 
 
 Change of Possession indispensable, . 19 
 
 II. — Effect of Contract, 21-25 
 
 Equitable Conversion, general doctrine, 21 
 
 Same applied to Contract of Sale, 23 
 
 Title of Vendee after Contract, 24 
 
 Title of Vendor after Contract, . 24 
 
 III. — Effect of Liens, . 26-43 
 
 Liens prior to Contract, . 26 
 
 Lien created by Contract, Vendor's Lien, 26-34 
 
 English doctrine not adopted, 28 
 
 Express Contract for lien, after Conveyance, 29 
 
 Lien before Conveyance, ... 33 
 
 Liens Subsequent to Contract, . 35~43 
 
 Judgments against Vendor, . . . 35 
 
 Attachment execution will not lie, • 3 6 
 
 This rule compared with other cases, . 37 
 
 (iiij 
 
i v CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Page. 
 
 Ejectment by Vendor, 
 
 38 
 
 Sheriff's sale of Vendor's title, . 
 
 39 
 
 Judgments against Vendee, 
 
 39 
 
 Effect of Merger, on Liens, . 
 
 40 
 
 IV. — Effect of Sheriff's Sale, 
 
 44- 8 
 
 Sale on Lien prior to Contract, . 
 
 44 
 
 Sale on Proceeding for Purchase Money, 
 
 46 
 
 Sale on Judgment against Vendor, 
 
 47 
 
 Sale on Judgment against Vendee, . 
 
 48 
 
 V. — Remedy upon Contract, 
 
 49-82 
 
 Remedy by Bill in Equity, 
 
 49-66 
 
 What must be shown, 
 
 49 
 
 Dower — Where wife of Vendor refuses, . 
 
 5° 
 
 Mutuality, 
 
 53 
 
 Marketable Title, 
 
 54 
 
 Compensation, 
 
 55 
 
 Time not material in Equity, 
 
 56 
 
 Bill against purchaser, 
 
 57-66 
 
 Difference between English doctrine and ours, 
 
 62 
 
 When Bill against Purchaser may be maintained, 
 
 65 
 
 Equitable Ejectment, 
 
 66-74 
 
 Substitute for Bill, 
 
 67 
 
 Functions of Judge and Jury, 
 
 68 
 
 Conditional Verdict, 
 
 70 
 
 One judgment enough, 
 
 7i 
 
 Action at law on the Contract, . 
 
 74-81 
 
 Measure of Damages, 
 
 74 
 
 Damages against Vendor, . 
 
 74 
 
 Damages on Verbal Contract, 
 
 76 
 
 Damages against Vendee, . 
 
 79 
 
 Interest on Purchase Money, . 
 
 80 
 
 Statute of Limitations, 
 
 81 
 
CONTRACTS FOR THE SALE OF LAND. 
 
 Contracts for the sale of real property differ from 
 other contracts, chiefly from two causes. One is the 
 Statute of Frauds, requiring a writing signed by the 
 party, or his authorized agent, to bind the bargain. 
 The other is to be found in the peculiar doctrines of 
 the Courts of Equity, according to which they have 
 been accustomed to enforce or refuse specific perform- 
 ance of such contracts by the parties bound by them. 
 
 Of the Statute of Frauds I shall have something 
 to say presently. Let me direct your attention 
 for a few minutes, by way of introduction, to the 
 general principles of specific performance. 
 
 Specific Performance. — Perhaps there is no one 
 of the many differences between the two systems 
 of law and equity that is more marked than that 
 which exists in their methods of dealing with 
 breaches of contract. Of course it is not every 
 'contract that comes within equitable jurisdiction. 
 A chancellor does not interfere with his extraordi- 
 nary power unless there is a want of sufficient 
 remedy otherwise, which would result in a complete 
 or partial failure of justice. But when the proper 
 
6 SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE. 
 
 case does arise, upon a breach or threatened breach 
 of contract, the relief afforded is as nearly perfect 
 as can be. The decree is that the contract shall 
 be performed as it was made ; that the party shall 
 do exactly what he promised to do, and what the 
 one who dealt with him had a right to expect him 
 to do. 
 
 The common law almost uniformly gives redress 
 for breach of contract by compensation in money. 
 The remedy of the injured party is confined to the 
 recovery of damages in an action. That is in effect 
 giving to every one, bound by a contract, the choice 
 either to keep the contract, or break it and pay 
 damages. If he would rather pay than stick to his 
 bargain, there is nothing to prevent his doing so. 
 
 The difference, I may say, is not in principle so 
 much as in the remedy. It is just as clearly well 
 settled at law as in equity that one who makes a 
 contract is bound to perform it ; but the law says 
 to such an one, " pay damages if you do not choose 
 to keep your agreement," while equity gives him 
 no choice whatever, and says, "you shall perform 
 your contract, or be severely punished for dis- 
 obedience." 
 
 While it was not every contract which would 
 entitle an injured party, to seek relief in equity, it- 
 has long been well settled that every contract for 
 the sale of land will, if valid and fair in other 
 respects, be enforced by a decree of specific per- 
 formance. The idea which underlies the equitable 
 
SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE. y 
 
 jurisdiction is, that there are some cases in which 
 the damages resulting from a breach of contract 
 can be accurately measured and amply compensated 
 by the recovery of a sum of money — and wherever 
 that is true the law affords a sufficient remedy. 
 While in other cases an action for damages is 
 wholly inadequate for the purposes of justice, 
 either because the subject of the contract is intended 
 for some special purpose of use or enjoyment, 
 which can only be satisfied by having the individual 
 thing itself; or because the measure of damage is un- 
 certain and cannot be ascertained with accuracy, and 
 therefore the verdict of a jury could not do com- 
 plete justice. As Lord Macclesfield said in the leading 
 case of Cuddee v. Rutter," which was on a bill to 
 enforce specific performance of a contract to transfer 
 South Sea stock : " There was no reason to bring 
 " a bill for specific performance of this agreement,., 
 "because there is no difference between this ,£1000 
 "South Sea stock and another ^1000 stock, which 
 " the plaintiff might have bought of any other person 
 " on the same day. And the plaintiff does not 
 " suffer at all by the non-performance of the agree- 
 " ment specifically, if the defendant pays him the 
 " difference. * * * This differs very much from 
 " the case of a contract for lands — some lands 
 " being more valuable than others, at least more 
 " convenient than others to the purchaser ; but 
 
 1 1 P. Wms. 570. (1 Ldg. Cas. in Equity, *64<3.) 
 
8 SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE. 
 
 " there is no difference in stock — one man's stock 
 " is of equal benefit or conveniency as another's." 
 
 The ruling in this case has been fully adopted in 
 Pennsylvania, and the chancery doctrines respecting 
 contracts for the sale of land have been uniformly 
 enforced by our courts, through common law forms 
 when we had no Courts of Equity, and since then in 
 regular equity modes of proceeding. There has 
 been, however, this peculiarity with respect to the 
 Pennsylvania law on this subject; that from 1736 to 
 1836, a period of exactly one hundred years, we had 
 no courts of general equity jurisdiction, and although 
 equity principles were part of the common law of 
 Pennsylvania, they were necessarily enforced by 
 means of common law forms, and this circumstance 
 has given rise to many peculiarities in the doctrines 
 concerning sales of land, which it will be part of my 
 duty in these lectures to explain and illustrate. 
 
 I propose to consider, first, the requisites of the 
 contract; second, the effect and consequences of the 
 contract ; third, the effect of liens against the vendor 
 and vendee respectively; fourth, the effect of a 
 sheriff's sale of the land which has been articled, 
 to use the phrase of the report books; and fifth 
 and last, the remedy on the contract, by the 
 vendor against the vendee, the vendee against the 
 vendor, and the measure of damages when an 
 action at law is brought for its breach. 
 
STATUTE OF FRAUDS. g 
 
 i. THE REQUISITES OF THE CONTRACT. 
 
 Except the provisions of the Statute of Frauds, 
 there is little to distinguish a contract for the sale of 
 land from any other contract of sale in this respect. 
 The same rules apply as to certainty, actual fraud, 
 consideration, capacity and consent. 
 
 Statute of Frauds. — The Statute of Frauds, as I 
 have said, makes a marked difference between a con- 
 tract for the sale of land and any other contract of 
 sale ; and not to weary you with a recitation of the 
 provisions of the statute in detail, let me summarize 
 them so far as this subject is concerned, by saying 
 that they require every such contract of sale to be by 
 deed or note in writing, signed by the party to be 
 charged therewith, or by his agent thereto lawfully 
 authorized in writing ; and that no estate or interest 
 in the land can be otherwise created, assigned, or 
 transferred, except by act or operation of law. The 
 words " by act or operation of law," of course, refer 
 to cases of "resulting" and "constructive" trusts, 
 which need not occupy us now. 
 
 In all the systems of law of which we have any 
 knowledge, the transfer of title to land has been a 
 subject of grave importance, and solemnities and 
 sanctions were required, which were not thrown 
 around the transfer of title to personal property. 
 From the first recorded purchase of land, by Abraham 
 
IO STATUTE OF FRAUDS. 
 
 from the sons of Heth, of the cave of Macpelah, 
 where he buried Sarah, his wife, down to the present 
 time, the common consent of mankind has demanded 
 that the evidence of contracts for the sale of real 
 estate should be of a character which could be pre- 
 served, and have something of the permanency of the 
 subject that was dealt with. "And Abraham spoke 
 unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the 
 land," says the sacred Writing ; and after the terms 
 of the bargain are carefully recorded in the Book of 
 Genesis, we have this conclusion, " and the field of 
 Ephron, and the cave which was therein, and all the 
 trees that were in the field and that were in all the 
 borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham 
 for a possession, in the presence of the children of 
 Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city." 
 And so throughout the history of the Jews, of Greece, 
 and Rome, and among our own ancestors, from whose 
 feudal system we have derived our own system of 
 land tenure, there have been always required some 
 solemnities more than were necessary in a bargain 
 about a chattel. The audience at the gate of the 
 city; the shoe plucked off; the feudal investiture; 
 the livery of seisin; the fealty, homage and attorn- 
 ment in the lord's court; all of these, and others 
 in turn, according to the civilization and develop- 
 ment of the society which practiced them 
 marked the same idea ; that the evidence of the 
 transfer of title to land was to be permanent, 
 certain and notorious ; and ii» our day we have 
 
STATUTE OF FRAUDS. n 
 
 in their place, to express precisely the same idea, 
 and to illustrate precisely the same principle, the 
 Statute of Frauds, which requires a writing, and the 
 recording acts, which require the deed to be put on 
 record within a reasonable time after it is made ; so 
 that the evidence of a contract respecting land may 
 not depend upon fallible and perishable human 
 memory, or remain secret, beyond the knowledge of 
 those who by subsequent dealings may be brought 
 within its influence. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Statute. — Our Statute of 
 Frauds was adopted March 21st, 1772, and is con- 
 densed from portions of the British Statute of 29 
 Car. 1 1 , c. 3, consequently the English decisions upon 
 that statute have had a great effect in moulding the 
 law of Pennsylvania, and deciding what our own 
 construction of our statute should be. A notable 
 circumstance is that the fourth section of the British 
 Statute was not adopted in Pennsylvania. That 
 section provides that no action shall be brought to 
 charge any person upon any contract or sale of land, 
 or any* interest in or concerning land, unless the 
 agreement shall be in writing, and signed by the 
 party or his lawfully authorized agent. It was, as I 
 said, left out of the act of 1772, but was enacted as 
 the fifth section of our Act of Assembly of April 
 22d, 1856, and remained in force for one year, 
 when it was repealed by the act of May 13th, 1857, 
 Pamph. Laws, 500. 
 
12 STATUTE OF FRAUDS. 
 
 Owing to the fact that this section is not in 
 force, it cannot be said that -a verbal contract 
 for the sale of lands is totally void in Pennsylvania, 
 as it is in England under their statute; because 
 here an action may be brought and maintained for 
 a breach of contract for the sale of land which is 
 entirely by word of mouth. The courts, however, 
 have been very careful so. to instruct the juries as 
 to the measure of damages in such actions that 
 they cannot be used to enforce specific performance 
 of the contract, or to accomplish any result which 
 would be equivalent to it. The measure of damages 
 in such an action, therefore, under no circumstances 
 includes compensation for the loss of the bargain ; 
 and one who sues upon a verbal contract for the 
 sale of land, can recover nothing but the purchase 
 money which he has paid, interest upon it, and any 
 special damage which he has suffered by reason of 
 the non-performance of the contract, such as the 
 preparation of title papers, the employment of 
 counsel, &c. But of this another time. 
 
 Who Must Sign. — The first point to which I will 
 call your attention under this statute is, that only 
 the person who is to be charged by the contract is 
 required to sign it. The vendor who is selling land, 
 and whose title is to be affected by the contract,, 
 cannot be bound unless the contract is in writing 
 and signed by him. The vendee who is not deal- 
 ing with title to land, but who is only making 
 
ST'ATUTE OF FRAUDS. ^ 
 
 a contract to part with a sum of money, is not within 
 the protection of the statute, and he may be bound 
 by a verbal promise. It is sufficient if he accepts 
 the contract without signing it. Let me illustrate 
 this : In a case where the agreement in question was 
 signed only by the vendors, they left it optional with 
 the vendee to take the land within ten days upon 
 the terms proposed, which were fully stated. The 
 vendee gave them notice, within the time, verbally, 
 that he would take the land, and the Supreme Court 
 held that the agreement was good under the statute, 
 both parties being bound by it. 1 But, of course, no 
 contract is binding upon one party unless it is binding 
 upon both, and if a verbal contract for the sale of 
 land be made it cannot be enforced by either party ; 
 the statute forbids the vendor to be bound by it, 
 and the vendee cannot be bound because there is 
 no mutuality. A contract ought to be the source of 
 mutual obligation and mutual remedy. It would be 
 against all our ideas of justice that a man who is 
 not bound by a contract, may yet be able to say to 
 the other party, "you shall be bound by the same 
 contract, and while I may keep it or not as I please, 
 you shall keep it whether you choose or not." 2 
 
 The Form of the Contract. — The writing re- 
 quired by the statute may be either a deed or note. 
 Such are its express terms. No form of words is 
 
 » Smith & Fleck's Appeal, 19 P. F. Sm. 474. 
 
 » Wilson v. Clarke, I W. & S. 554 ; Bodine v. Glading, 9 H. 50. 
 
I4 STATUTE OF FRAZfDS. 
 
 necessary. The statute requires no seal; only that 
 it should be signed. Consequently it has been well 
 settled that any memorandum signed by the party, 
 which contains the necessary elements of a contract, 
 is sufficient — a receipt — a letter — a bond. In Colt 
 v. Selden? the note in writing, which was held suffi- 
 cient, was in the form of a letter from the purchaser 
 offering to buy the land, with an endorsement of 
 acceptance on the back of it signed by the owner of 
 the land. It is only necessary that the memorandum 
 in writing, whatever it is, should be so precise as to 
 enable an inquirer to ascertain the terms of the 
 contract, the price, and the land to be conveyed. So 
 much, however, is necessary. It is not sufficient if 
 any essential part of the contract remains to be 
 proved by parol. In one case the writing was in 
 the form of a receipt for part payment of the pur- 
 chase money of a piece of land, and it was held 
 not sufficient because the total amount of the price 
 to be paid was not mentioned. 2 In another case, 
 the contract contained everything but a sufficient 
 identification of the land which was meant to be 
 sold, and it was held insufficient — without that, 
 there was no contract. 3 It was once doubted, and 
 there were conflicting decisions upon the question, 
 whether the writing must be directly between the 
 parties or their agents, but it was finally held that 
 it must be so ; otherwise, it would not be a con- 
 
 1 5 Watts, 525. 2 Soles v. Hickman, 8 Harris, 181. 
 
 3 Ferguson v. St aver, 9 Casey, 411. 
 
STATUTE OF FRAUDS. 
 
 15 
 
 tract, but rather an admission or recital of a con- 
 tract made to a stranger. 1 In the case referred to, 
 a recital in a deed was the note in writing that 
 was supposed to be sufficient to take the case 
 out of the statute, but the court held that this was 
 no contract at all, but a simple recital between 
 the defendant and a stranger. 
 
 But in this connection we must remember the 
 maxim " that is certain which can be made certain." 
 It is sufficient if the subject matter be identified in 
 such a way as to show clearly what was meant ; 
 as, for instance, if a lot of land be referred to by 
 a number on a plan, it is a sufficient description ; " 
 or be mentioned as contained in a certain survey. 3 
 And in one case the court ordered a surveyor 
 to lay out the land contracted to be sold, for their 
 information, and then decreed specific performance 
 according to his report. The Supreme Court, on 
 appeal, said that this course was eminently proper, 
 and affirmed the decree. 4 
 
 In short, the note in Writing required by the 
 statute, although it may be in any form, must yet 
 contain all the essential elements of a contract 
 of sale. It must describe the land with cer- 
 tainty, name the price to be paid, the time and 
 terms of payment, and the parties who make it. 
 If it comes up to this standard, it is sufficient. If 
 it falls short, it is not. 
 
 1 Allen v. Allen, 9 Wright, 468. 2 Robinson v. Meyer, 17 P. F. Smith; 9. 
 
 s Armstrong y. Boyd, 3 Penna. 458. * Herdic's Appeal, 8 P. F. Smith, 21 1. 
 
1 6 EQUITABLE EXCEPTIONS TO STATUTE. 
 
 No words of Inheritance Necessary. — Another 
 equitable doctrine with respect to such contracts, 
 relaxed the rigor of the common law in requiring 
 words of inheritance to pass an estate in fee. 
 Where the agreement is executory, looking to 
 further deeds for its consummation between the 
 parties, equity will presume that an estate in fee 
 simple was meant to be transferred, from the cir- 
 cumstance that the price to be paid warrants such 
 an inference. 1 
 
 It is very important, therefore, in this connection, 
 to note the distinction between an executory and 
 an executed contract, for this equitable doctrine 
 applies to one and not to the other. The case in 
 our books, which perhaps most thoroughly illustrates 
 this distinction, is one that we would hardly have 
 expected to find, being upon an instrument drawn 
 by a lawyer to secure payment of a contingent fee. 
 He brought ejectment for a tract of land, and took 
 an agreement from the plaintiffs that he was to 
 receive as his fee one-sixth of the land in contro- 
 versy, or of so much as should be recovered in 
 the suit. If nothing was recovered he was to 
 charge nothing for his services. In writing his 
 agreement, however, although he made it very short 
 and informal, he used the words "grant, bargain 
 and sell," the ordinary words of a conveyance, and 
 the court held that it was an executed contract, 
 
 1 McFanoris Appeal, I Jones, 511 ; Ogden v. Brmon, 9 Casey, 247; 
 Gaulc v. Bilyeau, I Casey, 521. 
 
PART PERFORMANCE. ij 
 
 looking to no further conveyance between the 
 parties, and there being no words of inheritance, 
 the successful counsel took but a life estate in his 
 one-sixth. 1 
 
 Exceptions to the Statute — Part Perform- 
 ance. — But the chief equitable exception to the 
 statute is to be found in cases of what is technically 
 called "part performance ;" that is,, where the con- 
 tract, although verbal, has been so far performed 
 that it would be a fraud upon the purchaser if it 
 were not fully carried out. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that Courts of Equity 
 are bound by statutes, and do not pretend to be at 
 liberty to disregard them. But it is equally certain 
 that they do interfere and give protection in some 
 cases which are clearly within the letter of the 
 Statute of Frauds ; and they do this expressly on 
 the ground that they will not allow the statute 
 made to prevent frauds, by a too close adherence 
 to its letter, to be made the means of executing a 
 fraud, in total disregard and violation of its spirit. 
 Consequently these equitable exceptions to the 
 statute have been long well established in England, 2 
 and closely followed by our courts in this country. 
 The Legislature of Pennsylvania has recognized this 
 exception to the Statute of Frauds, and has defined 
 what " part performance " is, in reference to con- 
 
 1 Gray v. Packer, 4 W. & S. 17. 
 
 2 Ungley v. Ungley, L. R., 4 Ch. Div. 73. 
 
tS PART PERFORMANCE. 
 
 tracts for the sale of lands, made by persons who 
 afterwards die. By the act of March ioth, 1818, 
 Sect. 1, provision is made for enforcing a parol 
 contract for the sale of land, made by an owner 
 who afterwards dies, and then comes the definition 
 I speak of — " In cases where such contracts shall 
 have been so far in part executed as to render it 
 unjust to rescind the same." 
 
 But the subject is worth a more careful con- 
 sideration. It was formerly thought that a pay- 
 ment of the whole, or a considerable part of the 
 purchase money, or giving security for it, was such 
 a part performance as to take a contract for the 
 sale of land out of the operation of the statute ; but 
 that doctrine has been finally overthrown. The 
 mere payment of money can be compensated, and 
 it is therefore no irreparable injury to the pur- 
 chaser to enforce the statute ; for nothing is to be 
 considered a part performance which does not put 
 the purchaser into a situation which will make it 
 a fraud on him, unless the contract shall be 
 enforced. There are many ingredients of more or 
 less weight in making up part performance, but 
 the chief and essential one is possession — a change 
 of possession in pursuance of the contract. Where 
 this element exists, the courts may or may not say 
 that the contract has been part performed, but, 
 without it, under any other circumstances, the statute 
 is invariably enforced. 1 I do not mean to be under- 
 
 1 Robertson v. Robertson, 9 Watts, 41. 
 
PART PERFORMANCE. 19, 
 
 stood as saying that a change of possession, stand- 
 ing entirely alone, is sufficient. That has been 
 expressly decided not to be law. The bare loss of 
 possession, it is said by the court, can be compen- 
 sated, and consequently cannot be a sufficient part 
 performance under the equity doctrine. 1 
 
 But where there has been a change of possession 
 and other circumstances, such as payment of a part 
 of the price, it has been invariably held that the 
 sale is good without a writing. 3 The possession, 
 however, must change. A continued possession will 
 not suffice. It is said that the law looks upon the 
 change of the possession as in a sense equivalent 
 to the writing which the statute requires — as evidence 
 of the bargain substantially as good as could be 
 afforded by the writing, and, therefore, there must 
 be the publicity which attends an open transfer. So 
 it was held in Hill v. Myers? that one tenant in 
 common in possession could not sell by parol to 
 his co-tenant in possession, because there was no 
 change in pursuance of the contract. Again, the 
 change must be in pursuance of the contract, and, 
 therefore, it follows that it must be made after the 
 contract is made, and in execution of it. 4 Again, 
 the possession must be exclusive; nothing else 
 would have the effect of notoriety which is required, 
 and this must be such as to notify the neighbors 
 
 I Galbruith v. Galbraith, 5 Watts, 146; Dougan v. Blocker, 12 Harris, 28; 
 
 Moore v. Small, 7 Harris, 467. 2 Millihin v. Dravo, 17 P. F- Sm. 233. 
 
 a 7 Wright, 170. 4 Aiken v - Youn S> 2 J ones ' I5 ' 
 
2o PART PERFORMANCE. 
 
 that a change has taken place. Once more, the 
 possession taken under the agreement must be co- 
 extensive with the purchase. Thus, in a contract 
 for the sale of two pieces of land, possession was 
 taken of but one, and it was held that the contract 
 was not so far performed as to take the case out of 
 the ban of the statute. 1 And lastly, an express 
 contract must be clearly proved. All the essential 
 elements of a contract must be affirmatively shown 
 by direct evidence, and not by proof of facts from 
 which an implied contract might be inferred. It 
 must further appear that it was fair and conscionable, 
 founded in sufficient consideration, and so far ex- 
 ecuted that it would be a fraud on the vendee not 
 to fully perform it. Whether that has been done 
 or not in any case is a question of law for the court, 
 and it is error for a judge to submit it as a question 
 of fact to be passed upon by a jury. 2 
 
 There are other exceptions to the Statute of 
 Frauds, such as judicial sales, &c, which are foreign 
 to the subject of these lectures. 
 
 1 Allen's Estate, I W. & S. 383. 
 
 '' Overmeyerv. Koerner, 2 Weekly Notes, 6. 
 
EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 2I 
 
 ii. THE EFFECT AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
 CONTRACT. 
 
 Suppose a complete, valid, and binding contract 
 
 is made. Then it is that the equitable doctrine 
 
 entirely changes the relations of the parties from 
 
 what they would be at common law. At law, the 
 
 vendor is the owner of the land as well and the 
 
 same after the agreement as before. He is only 
 
 personally bound by a contract, the breach of which 
 
 Will expose him to an action for damages. All the 
 
 legal consequences of ownership attend his title. 
 
 At his death it descends to his heir. The vendee 
 
 has nothing but a chose in action — a right to bring 
 
 an action for damages against the vendor if he should 
 
 choose not to perform the agreement. He has no 
 
 title to the land whatever and no estate or interest 
 
 in it. In equity, however, all this is different. The 
 
 doctrine of equitable conversion comes into play and 
 
 entirely changes the relations of the parties from 
 
 what they are at law. 
 
 Equitable Conversion. — It may not be out of place 
 here to state to you, briefly, the doctrine of equitable 
 conversion, before applying it to the subject in hand. 
 As I said before, equitable conversion is a fiction. 
 Actual conversion, which is the same as to say legal 
 conversion, is a change of property from real to per- 
 sonal, or from personal to real. If a man has money 
 
 3 
 
22 EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 
 
 and buys land with it, he converts his personalty into 
 real estate, and vice versa, a conversion is made 
 where one who has land, sells it and gets money for 
 it. The consequences of such an actual conversion 
 are important. It makes a material difference in 
 many respects whether the property which a man 
 has, is real or personal ; and of this any number of 
 familiar illustrations might be given. The two species 
 of property are regulated by different laws as to 
 ownership and transfer. They occupy different 
 positions with respect to claims of creditors- and 
 others, and on the death of the owner they descend 
 to, or devolve upon, different persons, according to 
 different rules. Equitable conversion is not actual, 
 but imaginary. And by means of this fiction, in 
 certain cases, and for the accomplishment of certain 
 purposes, equity clothes real estate with all the 
 incidents of personalty, and personalty with all the 
 incidents of real estate. The doctrine is founded 
 upon the maxim that " equity considers that as 
 done which ought to be done." This means simply, 
 in this connection, that the rights of one man shall 
 not be affected or impaired by the failure of another 
 man to do his duty ; and as applied to the con- 
 version of property from real to personal, or from 
 personal to real, the maxim reaches this result: 
 that wherever it is the duty of any man thus to 
 convert property, and the rights of other persons 
 depend upon the performance or non-performance 
 of that duty by him, for the sake of protecting and 
 
EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 2 $ 
 
 preserving those rights, equity will treat the property 
 as if actually converted. Of course, if there be actual 
 conversion there is no need for the interposition of 
 the equitable doctrine, for then that which ought 
 to be done has been done. It is only where there 
 has been no actual conversion that the doctrine 
 applies, for, I repeat, equitable conversion is an 
 imaginary conversion. 
 
 Under this doctrine, in equity, the vendee is con- 
 sidered as the owner of the land, — as Judge Duncan 
 said in an early case, " When a contract is made for 
 " the sale of land, equity considers the vendee as the 
 " owner of the estate sold, and the purchaser as a 
 " trustee for the vendor for the purchase money. So 
 " much is the vendee considered in contemplation of 
 " equity, as actually seized of the estate, that he must 
 " bear any loss which may happen to the estate 
 " between the agreement and the conveyance, and he 
 " will be entitled to any benefit which may accrue to 
 " it in the interval, because by the contract he is the 
 " owner of the premises to every intent and purpose 
 " in equity." 1 The interest of the purchaser, then, 
 after the bargain is made, is an estate in land which 
 will descend to his heirs. It is not affected by the pay- 
 ment or non-payment of the purchase money. He is 
 by mere force of the contract the owner of the whole 
 estate, encumbered only by the balance of the pur- 
 chase money due : 2 — and all the consequences of this 
 
 1 Richter v. Selin, 8 S. & R. 439. 2 Siter's Appeal, 2 Casey, 178. 
 
24 EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 
 
 doctrine! are followed to their logical conclusion, ex- 
 cept as to lien creditors, as will be hereafter stated. 
 
 The title of a vendor in equity is that of a trustee. 
 His beneficial interest is a right to a sum of money, 
 for which, before conveyance, he has a lien upon the 
 land, and there is little to distinguish his possession in 
 view of a court of equity, from that of a mortgagee. 
 He holds the title as a security for the payment of the 
 balance of the purchase money due, and when that is 
 paid he must convey it. Upon his death the right to 
 the money goes to his personal representatives as a 
 chattel, and under our statutes for enforcing the con- 
 tracts of decedents, the executors or administrators 
 are required, after the contract has been duly proved 
 to the court, to make a deed for the land to the 
 purchaser upon payment of the balance of the price. 
 
 If the purchaser be in possession under the terms 
 of the contract, as happens very frequently in some 
 of the other counties in this State, he is bound to do 
 nothing which will diminish the security of the vendor 
 for the payment of the purchase money, and so he 
 may be restrained from cutting timber upon the land 
 if that will lessen its value. 1 But this is no more than 
 will be done to any mortgagor, who, by such conduct, 
 lessens the security of his creditor for the money 
 charged upon the title. And his ownership of the 
 land is not to be called in question from this circum- 
 stance, because it has been held, that although the 
 
 1 Coomalt v. Stanley, 3 Clark's L. J. Rep. 389. 
 
EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 25 
 
 agreement expressly stipulate that no timber shall be 
 cut until the land is paid for, yet the purchaser has an 
 interest in the timber which he. may transfer, and his 
 vendee may maintain an action for injury to it, 
 although he has no right to take it away from the land 
 until the condition is complied with. 1 Indeed, so far 
 has this equitable doctrine been carried under our 
 peculiar system of administering equity in Pennsyl- 
 vania through common law forms, that it has been 
 determined that where a vendee of an undivided in- 
 terest in land, was entitled according to his agreement 
 to possession, he might maintain an action of partition 
 against the co-tenant in common of his vendor. 2 
 
 I have said that on the death of the vendee his title 
 descends to his heirs. Of course, this circumstance 
 would not deprive the vendor of his lien for the pay- 
 ment of the purchase money, but the purchase money 
 was a debt due by the deceased vendee, and conse- 
 quently it is payable out of his estate ; and it has been 
 determined, that if before conveyance he devised the 
 land, although the contract calls for payment at a 
 future day, the devisee will be entitled to have the 
 estate paid for out of the personal property of his 
 testator. 3 
 
 1 Lillybridge v. Sartwell, 8 Barr, 523. 
 
 2 Longwellv. Bently, 11 Harris, 99. 
 
 3 Broom v. Monk, 10 Vesey, 597 ; 3 Johns. Ch. 316. 
 
26 LIEN CREATED BY THE CONTRACT. 
 
 in. THE EFFECT OF LIENS AGAINST VENDOR AND 
 VENDEE RESPECTIVELY. 
 
 Liens prior to the Contract. — Of course, those 
 liens of every kind, by mortgage, judgment, or other- 
 wise, which bind the land at the time the contract of 
 sale is made, continue unaffected by the contract. As 
 to them there is no equitable conversion whatever. 
 Equitable conversion is a fiction — an imaginary con- 
 version — which is introduced for the accomplishment 
 of some equitable purpose, and which is kept up only 
 for the accomplishment of that purpose. But if a man 
 buys land which he knows (or ought to know) is sub- 
 ject to a mortgage or judgment lien, he takes it cum 
 onere, and neither buyer nor seller can justly com- 
 plain, if the enforcement of the lien creditor's legal 
 rights deprives them of title. Consequently, a 
 sheriff's sale under a lien which attached prior to the 
 contract, passes both the legal and equitable estate in 
 the. law, and the sheriff's vendee takes it clear of the 
 claims arising under the contract. 
 
 Lien created by the Contract. — Vendor's Lien. — 
 The contract itself is the source of another lien, which 
 attaches upon the equitable estate of the purchaser. 
 And that is the vendor's lien for the purchase money, 
 or so much of it as may remain unpaid. But this 
 must not be confounded with what is called " vendor's 
 lien," in the English equity books, for it is an entirely 
 
VENDOR'S LIEN. 2 J 
 
 ■different thing. It is the well settled doctrine of the 
 Court of Chancery in England, that the vendor of 
 land has, even after he has made a formal, legal con- 
 veyance of the title, a lien for the amount of the pur- 
 chase money remaining unpaid, not only as against 
 the vendee himself and his heirs, but also against all 
 subsequent purchasers and mortgagees, who took 
 with notice that the purchase money remained unpaid. 
 As Lord Eldon said in Mackreth v. Symmons, 1 " Where 
 " the vendor conveys, without more, though the con- 
 " sideration is upon the face of the instrument ex- 
 " pressed to be paid, and by a receipt endorsed upon 
 " the back ; if it is a simple case of a conveyance, the 
 " money, or part of it, not being paid, as between the 
 " vendor and the vendee, and persons claiming as 
 " volunteers, upon the doctrine of this court, (which 
 *' when it is settled has the effect of contract, though 
 " perhaps no actual contract has taken place) a lien 
 " shall prevail ; in the one case for the whole consider- 
 " ation, in the other, for that part of the money which 
 " was not paid." This, he said, was the settled doc- 
 trine of the court, and then, after remarking upon the 
 authorities, he added: "I cannot doubt that a person, 
 " having got the estate of another, shall not, as 
 " between them, keep it, and not pay the considera- 
 " tion ; and I have no doubt but that a third person, 
 " having full knowledge that the other got the estate 
 " without payment, ought not to be permitted to keep 
 " it without making such payment." 
 
 1 15 Ves. 329. 
 
28 VENDOR'S LIEN. 
 
 This English doctrine was never adopted in 
 Pennsylvania, but was expressly repudiated the 
 first time the question was fairly raised in the 
 Supreme Court. In the opinions of Judges Gibson 
 and Duncan in this case, 1 which is a leading one 
 in this State, it is clearly shown that the early 
 settlers of the province did not bring this doctrine 
 with them from England, for it has grown up there 
 since the founding of the colony ; that it was opposed 
 to the spirit and policy of our legislation, which 
 seeks to make all liens upon land the subjects of 
 record; and that the doctrine accorded neither with 
 the sentiments of the profession nor with the popular 
 understanding. 
 
 It is owing to this difference between our system 
 and the English, that the same deductions cannot 
 be made from circumstances very nearly or entirely 
 alike. If, as was formerly the custom in England, 
 the possession of the title papers be looked upon 
 as a distinguishing and almost an indispensable 
 badge of a good title, so that the want of them is 
 notice to a vendee that puts him upon inquiry as 
 to the rights of a third person who may be in 
 possession of them, then it might be fair to say 
 that a deposit of title papers as security for a loan 
 should create a valid mortgage, or that a complete 
 deed, with a receipt for the purchase money ap- 
 pended or endorsed, would be insufficient to per- 
 suade an intending purchaser that his vendor's 
 
 1 Kauffelt v. Bower, 7 S. & R. 63. 
 
VENDOR'S LIEN. 2 g 
 
 land was free from entanglements. But as a 
 general rule, we have, by our Acts of Assembly, 
 given to an intending purchaser of land, an 
 unerring guide to an unencumbered title ; and 
 where an absolute conveyance, free from all encum- 
 brance, is found on record, and the records show 
 no liens duly entered according to law, the buyer 
 is safe in taking the title and paying for it. 1 
 
 Express Contract may be made for Lien. — Of 
 course, the parties may contract that there shall 
 be a lien, notwithstanding the conveyance. The 
 usual and proper way to do this is to make a 
 purchase money bond and mortgage, and put it on 
 record within sixty days of its date, as required 
 by the act of 1820. But in the English chancery,, 
 the doctrine of vendor's lien is sustained, not on 
 • the footing of a contract, express or implied, but 
 avowedly independent of the contract, " upon the 
 doctrine of the court," as Lord Eldon said, as an 
 implied trust. 
 
 Exactly what words are sufficient to make such 
 a contract, of course depends upon the construction 
 of the instrument before the court. If, in the deed 
 of conveyance of the property, it be expressly 
 declared to be " under and subject to the payment " 
 of a certain sum, part of the purchase money, there 
 can be no doubt that the parties meant to charge 
 
 1 Semplev. Burd, 7 S. & R. 285; Hepburn v. Snyder, 3 Barr, 72; Zentmyer 
 v. Mittower, 5 Barr, 403. 
 
3 o VENDORS LIEN. 
 
 the land with the payment of the money. They 
 do so, by express words in the chain of the title, 
 in such a way that a purchaser must come to a 
 knowledge of it, if he looks, as he is bound to do, 
 to see where his vendor got the property. 1 
 
 But it is well settled that the charge must be 
 by express words. Enough must appear upon the 
 face of the deed of conveyance to enable the court 
 to say that it was the contract of the parties 
 that the unpaid purchase money should remain 
 a lien. In Bear v. Whisler? the deed of con- 
 veyance was in the usual form, and after the 
 concluding words " In witness whereof, &c," there 
 was written " Subject, nevertheless, to the conditions 
 and obligations contained in a certain article of 
 agreement, &c." The agreement was recorded. 
 It was held that there was an express charge of 
 the purchase money mentioned in the agreement, ■ 
 and that the estate conveyed by the deed was an 
 estate upon condition that the vendee should 
 perform the agreement. In Neas's Appeal* a 
 deed came up for construction which had the 
 words of charge in the premises, where the con- 
 sideration is usually expressed, "in consideration of 
 one thousand dollars, one hundred dollars whereof 
 are to be paid annually to the grantor, until the 
 whole be paid." It was held to create a lien. This 
 case certainly comes within the line, and should 
 
 1 Heist v. Baker, 13 Wr. 9; Barnitz v. Smith, I W. & S. 142. 
 
 2 7 Watts, 146. » ? Cas 293 
 
VEND OR'S LIEN. 3 1 
 
 have been decided the other way. There was 
 nothing beyond a recital that the purchase money 
 was unpaid, and no appearance of a contract that 
 it should remain a lien until paid It was 
 practically overruled in Hiester v. Green? where 
 a widow, by deed-poll, released her life estate in 
 her husband's land " in the consideration of the pay- 
 ment to me yearly of the sum of one hundred 
 dollars." It was held that she had no lien upon 
 the land for the payment of the annuity. The 
 opinion of the court discusses the authorities at 
 some length, and reaches this conclusion from them. 
 "The sum of the authorities is, that though 
 " equitable liens are not favored by our law, yet 
 "parties may, by express and clear words, in deeds 
 " of conveyance, create liens upon land either for 
 " purchase money or for performance of collateral 
 " conditions, which will be binding between them- 
 " selves and their privies, and such liens will be 
 " divested by sheriff's sales, unless they are in the 
 " nature of testamentary provisions, or are . not 
 " capable of valuation, or are expressly created to 
 " run with the land. Now in view of this state of 
 " the law, our immediate question is, whether reciting 
 " on the face of the title that the purchase money 
 " remains unpaid, and is to be paid annually, 
 " creates such a lien. In Neas's Appeal, an intention 
 " to create a lien was inferred from the fact that 
 
 1 12 Wright, 96. 
 
32 
 
 VENDORS LIEN. 
 
 " the purchase money stood in the title. But 
 " according to all the antecedent cases, express 
 " words were necessary to establish the lien. It 
 " never before was treated as' a subject for legal 
 " implication, and it is manifestly a hazardous infer- 
 " ence to make ; for the pecuniary consideration, 
 " essential to all bargains and sales, is generally 
 " mentioned upon the face of the deed, and if it 
 " be said to be unpaid, it is notice of that fact to 
 " a purchaser, but it is no notice to him of a lien. 
 " He may reasonably infer that the vendor trusted 
 " the personal credit of the vendee for the purchase 
 " money, or took bonds and mortgages, or other 
 " security, or at the least, that no lien was intended 
 " to be created by the deed, because none was ex- 
 " pressed. These inferences would seem quite as 
 " reasonable as that the parties meant what they 
 " did not express — a lien for the unpaid purchase 
 " money. When the evil consequences of con- 
 " structive liens are considered, and it is observed 
 " how the legislature and the courts have laboured 
 " to furnish record notice of liens, it is going very 
 " far to say that parties may, even by their express 
 " agreement, create a valid lien ; but much too far 
 " to imply a lien from mere notice of non-payment 
 " of the purchase money. ****** if 
 " notice of unpaid purchase money be sufficient to 
 " create a lien, Kauffelt v. Bower ought to have 
 " been differently ruled, for the purshaser there 
 
VENDOR'S LIEN. 33 
 
 " had such notice ; but the court refused, for the 
 " most solid reasons, to imply a lien." 
 
 To sum up on this subject then : — Where a 
 vendor claims to have a lien for his unpaid pur- 
 chase money upon the land which he has sold and 
 conveyed, he must affirmatively show that he has 
 expressly stipulated for it, either by a debt of record 
 as a judgment or a mortgage duly recorded, or by 
 an express agreement to that effect in the deed 
 by which he has conveyed the title to his vendee. . 
 And if his lien is preserved by judgment or mort- 
 gage, he must comply with the statutory require- 
 ments with respect to record ; for a judgment for 
 purchase money has no priority over other judg- 
 ments, but ranks with them according to the date 
 of its entry. 1 And although a mortgage for pur- 
 chase money has, by statute, a lien for sixty days 
 without record, yet to get the benefit of the 
 statute, its provisions must be strictly complied 
 with. 
 
 Lien before Conveyance. — But before convey- 
 ance of the legal title — while there is nothing more 
 than an agreement to convey — the case is entirely 
 different. In such circumstances, the vendee has 
 title only in equity, and the legal estate in the land 
 remains in the vendor. Consequently, if the pur- 
 chaser be in possession, the vendor may oust him, 
 
 1 Stephen's Executor's Appeal, 3 Wright, 9. 
 
34 VENDOR'S LIEN. 
 
 and recover the land in ejectment on his legal title, 
 if the purchase money be not paid. 
 
 The vendor is not in want of any aid from a 
 court of equity. He has at law a complete remedy. 
 But the title of 'a vendee under articles is only and 
 purely equitable, and needs the support of equitable 
 principles to exist even, and the maxim, " he who 
 seeks equity must do equity," applies to him in full 
 force. If he needs the protection of a court of 
 equity to defend him against the legal title, as he 
 certainly does, he must do equity by paying the 
 price which he agreed to pay. And it is also clear 
 that a purchaser from the vendee stands in pre- 
 cisely the same position. Even if he buys without 
 actual notice of the unpaid purchase money, he 
 buys only an equity, and although his equity be as 
 meritorious as that of the vendor, between equal 
 equities the law must prevail. Besides, there is 
 warrant for saying that the very fact that a man 
 has only an equitable, and not a legal title, is suffi- 
 cient to put a purchaser from him, upon inquiry ; 
 and inquiry, duly pursued, would inevitably lead 
 to notice of the reason why the conveyance of the 
 legal title was withheld ; that is, that the purchase 
 money remained unpaid. So that even in the 
 absence of actual notice, this would be sufficient 
 to charge a person with constructive notice, and 
 thus take away his equity altogether. 1 
 
 1 Stokley v. Trout, 3 Watts, 163 ; Watson v. Willard, 9 Barr, 89. 
 
LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 35 
 
 Liens Subsequent to Contract. — We come now 
 to the consideration of those liens which attach to 
 the land articled subsequently to the date of the 
 contract. It is another singular result of our 
 mixed system of law and equity' in Pennsylvania, 
 that so far as the statutory provisions for the liens 
 of judgments, and for recording conveyances and 
 other writings are concerned, that both the vendor 
 and the vendee are deemed to have estates in the 
 land. 
 
 Judgments Against Vendor. — A judgment against 
 the vendor binds his interest in the land, and a 
 judgment against the vendee binds his interest. 
 If the vendor convey, the purchaser from him must 
 record his deed, and so also if the vendee convey, 
 the purchaser from him must record his deed. And 
 all the doctrines with respect to notice which spring 
 from these statutes apply with equal force to the 
 estate of either. So far then as the judgment credi- 
 tors of the vendor are concerned the contract of 
 sale does not work an equitable conversion of his 
 real estate into personalty. 
 
 If it were so, the judgments would not be liens 
 on his property, for judgments do not bind per- 
 sonalty; but, notwithstanding the contract, the judg- 
 ments against the vendor are liens on his estate 
 in the land, and they may be enforced against it by 
 execution, as against real estate ; that is to say, by 
 levy, condemnation, and sheriff's sale on venditioni 
 
36 LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 
 
 exponas? On such a sheriff's sale, the sheriff's 
 vendee stands precisely in the situation of the 
 original vendor. He is entitled to the legal estate 
 of the vendor, to the unpaid purchase money, 
 and to all the remedies for its recovery which 
 the original vendor would have had.' It is therefore 
 necessary for a vendee under articles to search 
 for judgments against the vendor, up to the 
 very delivery of the deed consummating the con- 
 tract. 
 
 Attachment Execution will not Lie. — It is a 
 necessary consequence of this doctrine that although 
 the unpaid purchase money is a debt due by the 
 vendee to the vendor, yet it cannot, like other debts, 
 be made the subject of an attachment execution. 3 
 Jf it could be so attached there would be little use 
 in giving liens to judgment creditors of the vendor, 
 for it would be possible that a junior judgment, by 
 an attachment, might obtain priority over those who 
 had been more vigilant than himself. The fact that 
 judgments rank as liens, according to the date of 
 their entry, means — if it means anything — that they 
 are to be paid in their order, from the proceeds of 
 the land when sold ; and this would be impossible, 
 if the unpaid purchase money could be reached by 
 an attachment, as a debt. 
 
 1 Fasholtv. Reed, 1 6 Sergeant & Rawle, 266. 
 
 2 McMullin v. Wenner, 16 S. & R. 18. 
 
 3 Stewart v. Coder, 1 Jones, 90. 
 
LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 37 
 
 Equitable Conversion in other Cases. — As a 
 
 •contrast to this let me direct your attention to the 
 
 consequences of equitable conversion in other cases : 
 
 that, for instance, of land, produced by a positive 
 
 direction to sell contained in a will, such a direction 
 
 as makes it the duty of the executor to convert the 
 
 land into money, and, therefore, upon the theory that 
 
 I have explained, equity will look upon the land as 
 
 already converted, and upon the shares of those who 
 
 have interest in the land, as personal estate. In such 
 
 a case a judgment against the devisee of a beneficial 
 
 interest in the land has no lien upon his share ; 
 
 neither can such a share be taken into execution and 
 
 sold. 1 The purchaser at a sheriff's sale, under an 
 
 execution levied upon such a share, acquires no title 
 
 whatever, either to the land or its proceeds. 2 Indeed 
 
 so logically is the doctrine of equitable conversion 
 
 pursued to its conclusion in such a case, that it has 
 
 been held, that where a testator, by his will, gave 
 
 binding instructions to his executor to sell his land, 
 
 the land may be taken in execution on a judgment 
 
 •obtained against the testator in his lifetime, and sold 
 
 by the sheriff, without the set. fa. to the widow and 
 
 devisees expressly required by the statute, before 
 
 such executions can issue. 3 This decision was rested 
 
 upon the express ground, that because the testator 
 
 had ordered his land sold, and therefore the interest 
 
 *' Morrow v. Brenizer, 2 Rawle, 185 ; Evan's Appeal, 13 P. F. Sm. 183. 
 
 2 Brolasky v. Gaily, I P, F. Sm. 509. 
 
 3 Leiper v. Thomson, 10 P. F. Sm. 177. 
 
 4 
 
38 LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 
 
 of the devisees was personal property, and not real 
 estate, it did not come within the letter of the statute,, 
 which required such notice to be given before " the 
 real estate of the widow, or devisees, or heirs," 
 could be sold. 
 
 The vendor, also, may mortgage or convey his 
 interest as real estate, and such mortgage or con- 
 veyance will be entirely sufficient, if the ordinary 
 rules of law are complied with, to pass whatever 
 remaining interest he may possess, without any such 
 delivery, or change of possession, or notice, as is 
 required to pass title to personal property or to a 
 chose in action. 1 
 
 Ejectment by Vendor. — The vendor may bring 
 an ejectment upon his title against the purchaser in 
 possession if the purchase money or all of it be not 
 paid ; for, as I remarked a moment ago, the vendee 
 is not entitled to the protection of the equitable 
 doctrine until he has done equity himself, by paying 
 the price agreed upon. In so far then as is necessary 
 to give the vendor a complete security, the doctrine of 
 equitable conversion affords no protection to the 
 vendee, but just as in England, a Court of Equity 
 would, by injunction, interfere to prevent the vendor 
 from proceeding with his ejectment, if the purchase 
 money remaining due should be tendered to him in 
 full, with interest ; so our courts in Pennsylvania, while 
 there was no chancery here, administered the equity 
 
 1 Leiper v. Irvine, 2 Casey, 54. 
 
LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 39 
 
 of the vendee, and the vendor's action of ejectment 
 would be arrested by the payment of the debt with 
 interest, or a tender of the money ; or even if that 
 should not be done before the verdict was reached, 
 his verdict in the ejectment would be conditioned to 
 become void upon the payment of the balance due 
 within a stipulated time. 
 
 Sheriff's Sale. — Of course, a sheriff's sale of 
 the vendor's interest, under a judgment against him, 
 would discharge all the liens upon that interest, 
 but only those would be discharged which became 
 liens upon his estate subsequent to the articles, 
 and the purchaser at such a sale would take subject 
 to the liens which existed upon the property at 
 the time the contract was made. They would be 
 unaffected by the sale, because their lien covered 
 and bound the whole estate, both legal and equit- 
 able, in the land ; and after such a sale the 
 vendee's interest, and all the liens upon it, would 
 remain precisely as they were before, entirely un- 
 affected by the proceeding. 1 
 
 Judgment against Vendee. — I have already said 
 judgments against the vendee bind his equitable 
 estate in the land. This was a necessary result of 
 the system of giving equitable relief by means of 
 common law forms. As Chief Justice Tilghman 
 said, in Auwerther v. Matkiot? " at common law an 
 " equitable estate is not bound by a judgment or 
 
 1 Patterson's Estate, I Casey, 71. * 9 S. & R. 402. 
 
4 o LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 
 
 " subject to an execution, but the creditor may 
 " have relief in chancery. We have no Court of 
 '' Chancery, and have, therefore, from necessity, 
 " established it as a principle that both judgments 
 " and executions have an immediate operation upon 
 " equitable estates." But neither the lien of a 
 judgment against the vendee, nor a sheriff's sale 
 upon execution under such a judgment, could in 
 any way affect either the legal estate of the vendor, 
 his right to the purchase money, the liens upon his 
 estate, or the liens upon the land prior to the con- 
 tract. So that a purchaser at a sheriff's sale under 
 such a judgment, would take precisely the same 
 estate in the land which the vendee himself had ; 
 that is, an equitable estate subject to the payment 
 of the unpaid purchase money, but discharged of 
 all liens against the vendee himself, which would 
 ordinarily be discharged by a sheriff's sale of his 
 property. 
 
 Merger. — A few words now as to the effect of 
 the merger of the legal and equitable estates upon 
 the various classes of liens about which I have 
 been speaking. When the contract of sale is con- 
 summated by a conveyance, the legal and equitable 
 estates, of course, merge and unite in the grantee, 
 and therefore, after liens against the vendor, subse- 
 quent to the articles, have attached, the purchaser 
 should not pay the vendor the balance of the pur- 
 chase money and take a deed from him, for the 
 
LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 4I 
 
 judgments against the vendor will attach to the 
 completed title in the hands of the vendee, because 
 it was his folly to pay, without first seeing that the 
 liens were satisfied. If there be judgments which 
 are liens upon the estate of the vendee, and during 
 their existence as liens, he acquires the legal title 
 by taking a deed from the vendor, these judgments, 
 which at their inception were liens upon the equitable 
 interests of the vendee only, become liens upon the 
 legal and equitable estates which have thus been 
 merged into one. Now, in such a case, suppose the 
 whole purchase money be not paid at the time of the 
 conveyance, and the vendor take a judgment or a 
 mortgage to secure the balance due, it is manifest 
 that his judgment or mortgage, although immediately 
 recorded, will be subsequent in point of time to those 
 liens which have already attached to the vendee's 
 equitable interest; yet because they were for pur- 
 chase money which had, as such, a lien on the 
 vendee's equitable interest, from the date of the 
 contract, and therefore prior in that respect to the 
 judgments against the vendee ; — they will take pre- 
 cedence of such judgments as liens upon the vendee's 
 completed estate. And it is no hardship to the judg- 
 ment creditors of the vendee, that this priority, which 
 had always existed, should be continued. Besides, 
 it might be said that, as to judgments against the 
 vendee, the legal title thus subsequently acquired 
 should be considered as after-acquired property, 
 which, as judgments, they could not bind. But in 
 
42 LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 
 
 order to secure this priority it is incumbent upon the 
 vendor that he shall diligently enter his judgment, or 
 record his mortgage as soon as the conveyance is 
 made. In one case where the vendor took a judg- 
 ment bond as security for the unpaid purchase money 
 upon making a deed, on which bond judgment was 
 entered in his favor one hour after the conveyance, it 
 was held that such a judgment took precedence of 
 prior judgments against the vendee, which bound his 
 equitable estate only. 1 And in another case it. was 
 held, with respect to a mortgage, that where the 
 vendor, on making conveyance of the legal title, took 
 a purchase money mortgage as security for the 
 balance due at time, his mortgage would take prece- 
 dence of prior judgments against the vendee, if, 
 according to the act of 1820, it was recorded within 
 sixty days from its date. If not so recorded the 
 opportunity was gone, and the prior judgments took 
 precedence of it. 2 This peculiar doctrine was well 
 illustrated in the recent case of Taylor v. Preston? 
 Preston bought land from Young for $21,000 and paid 
 $5,200 on account. He then assigned all his estate in 
 the land to Taylor, at which time, two instalments of 
 the purchase money due Young, amounting to 
 $15,800, remained unpaid. When one of these 
 instalments came due, Young brought an action of 
 covenant against Preston for the money, whereupon 
 
 1 Love v. Jones, 4 Watts, 465. 
 
 2 Academy v. Frieze, 2 Watts, 16; Foster's Appeal, 3 Barr, 30. 
 
 3 29 P. F. S. 440. 
 
LIENS SUBSEQUENT TO CONTRACT. 43 
 
 Preston confessed judgment to Young for the whole 
 of the balance with interest, and took a deed from 
 Young for the land. The court held that Preston had 
 no title whatever, except the title of a trustee. He 
 held the legal title subject to the lien of Young's 
 judgment, the whole equitable estate in the land 
 having passed by his assignment to Taylor ; and upon 
 payment of the balance of the purchase money re- 
 maining due, which in effect would be nothing more 
 than payment of Young's judgment against Preston, 
 a conveyance from Preston to Taylor could be en- 
 forced : — and subsequent judgments against Preston 
 were no liens upon the land, because there was 
 nothing, either of title or possession in him, which the 
 judgments could possibly bind. 
 
4 4 SALE ON LIEN PRIOR TO CONTRACT. 
 
 iv. THE EFFECT OF A SHERIFF'S SALE OF THE 
 LAND WHICH HAS BEEN ARTICLED, UPON THE 
 TITLE, AND UPON LIENS. 
 
 Of course, the results of such a sale would 
 depend very much upon the kind of lien under 
 which it was made, whether upon a lien prior to the 
 contract, or upon a proceeding by the vendor to 
 enforce payment of the unpaid purchase money, or 
 a subsequent judgment against the vendor, or a 
 judgment against the vendee subsequent to the con- 
 tract. 
 
 Sale on Lien prior to Contract. — If the sale 
 were made on a lien prior to the contract, it would 
 be the right of the execution creditor to have his 
 money out of the land, as it was when his lien 
 attached upon it ; and the purchaser from the 
 sheriff would take the title as it existed in the 
 vendor at the time the lien attached. Consequently 
 such a sale would entirely cut out all the rights of 
 both vendor and vendee under the contract ; and 
 all the liens subsequently attaching upon the in- 
 terests both of the vendor and the vendee would 
 be transferred to the purchase money in the hands 
 of the sheriff. When the rights of subsequent 
 lien creditors to the proceeds of the sheriff's sale 
 came to be considered, it would be found that 
 
SALE ON LIEN PRIOR TO CONTRACT. 45 
 
 each would be paid out of so much of the proceeds 
 as could fairly be considered to represent the estate 
 in the land which was bound by his lien. For 
 instance, a judgment against the vendor, obtained 
 subsequently to the articles, would be paid out of 
 so much of the proceeds as would be necessary 
 to pay the balance of the unpaid purchase money 
 due the vendor, and if that balance should be 
 exhausted before the judgment was fully satisfied, 
 of course, the remainder of the judgment could 
 not be paid, for neither the vendor, nor any one 
 claiming in his right subsequent to the date of 
 the contract, could reasonably expect to have more 
 from the proceeds of the sale than the unpaid 
 purchase money. Any further interest in the land 
 would belong to the vendee, and those claiming 
 under him, as representing his equitable interest. 
 The liens against the vendee's interest, subsequent 
 to the contract, would not be paid at all, until so 
 much of the proceeds as was necessary to fully 
 satisfy the unpaid purchase money should be set 
 aside and disposed of. The balance, be it great 
 or small, would be applicable to the liens against 
 the vendee, or if there be none, would belong to 
 the vendee himself. 1 And it would make no 
 difference whatever, whether the amount thus paid 
 to the vendee, or those claiming in his right, be 
 greater than the amount of the purchase money 
 already paid by him, for if the land have increased 
 
 1 Suet's Appeal, 2 Cas. 178 ; Crouse's Appeal, 4 Cas. 139. 
 
4 6 SALE FOR PURCHASE MONEY. 
 
 in value since the contract to such an extent that 
 it will produce at a sale a price greater than that 
 stipulated for in the contract, the advantage belongs 
 entirely to the vendee, because after the contract 
 is made, he is to this extent, in equity, the owner of 
 the land, that any loss or profit arising from it, 
 equally belongs to him. If the land increase in 
 value, it is his gain. If it decrease, or if improve- 
 ments be destroyed by fire or otherwise, it is his 
 loss. 1 
 
 Sale on Proceeding for Purchase Money.— Where 
 the land is sold upon a proceeding by the vendor to 
 enforce payment of the unpaid purchase money, the 
 purchaser from the sheriff will take both the legal and 
 the equitable title, as it stood in the vendor at the 
 time the contract of sale was made. If the vendor 
 himself should buy at such a sheriff's sale, it 
 amounts to a rescission of the contract, and he is 
 disabled thereafter from making any further claims 
 upon the vendee. 2 The idea was advanced in Wilson 
 v. Stoxe? that upon such a sale only the vendee's 
 interest would pass to the sheriff's purchaser, because 
 the execution should be levied, not on the fee, but 
 upon the equitable estate of the vendee, for no man 
 willingly sells his own estate on his own execution. ^ 
 But this idea was negatived in Horbach .v. Riley,'' 
 
 1 Stevens' Appeal, 8 W. & S. 1 86; Kerchall v. Day, 2 Harris, 112; Robb v. 
 Mann, I Jones, 300 ; Morris v. Rice, 7 Watts, 437. . 
 
 'Day v. Lowrie, 5 Watts, 412. » 10 Watts, 434. * 7 Barr, 81. 
 
SALE ON JUDGMENT VS. VENDOR. 47 
 
 which has been subsequently affirmed in many de- 
 cisions, 1 and it was settled, as I have said, that the 
 purchaser from the sheriff takes the whole estate, 
 legal as well as equitable. The proceeds of such a 
 sale go to the vendor to the extent of his unpaid 
 purchase money, without any regard whatever to the 
 date of his judgment under which the sale is made. 
 The legal title which he held, and which passes to the 
 purchaser by the sheriff's sale, was a security in his 
 hands for the whole of the unpaid purchase money, 
 and it is upon the strength of this, and not because of 
 any lien which his judgment might have, that he is 
 • entitled to priority of payment. 2 If anything remains 
 after the vendor is paid in full, it belongs to the 
 vendee, for the money, standing in the place of the 
 land, is to be divided according to the respective 
 interests of the parties in the land. 
 
 "Sale on Judgment against Vendor. — Where the 
 sheriff's sale takes place upon a judgment against the 
 vendor subsequent to the contract, no liens are dis- 
 charged except those which attached to his interest 
 subsequent to the contract, and the purchaser takes 
 the position of the vendor ; that is, has his legal estate 
 and his right to the balance of the unpaid purchase 
 money, subject to all the liens which existed at the 
 time the contract was made, 3 for they are not 
 
 1 VierkellerS Appeal, 12 Harris, 105; Canon v. Campbell, 10 Casey, 309; 
 ZUgler's Appeal, 19 P. F. S. 471. 
 
 J VierhelleSs Appeal, supra. > Patterson's Estate, I Casey, 71. 
 
48 SALE ON JUDGMENT VS. VENDEE. 
 
 discharged by the sheriff's sale. In distributing the 
 proceeds of such a sale, of course, nothing is paid but 
 those liens which are discharged, and if there should 
 be a surplus it would belong to the vendor himself. 
 
 Sale on Judgment against Vendee. — In like 
 manner a sheriff's sale of the land upon a judgment 
 obtained against the vendee, subsequent to the con- 
 tract, discharges only those judgments which are liens 
 upon his equitable interest. A purchaser takes the 
 equitable title subject to the payment of the unpaid 
 purchase money, and liable also to all the liens which 
 existed before the date of the contract ; and the • 
 proceeds of such a sale would be distributed only 
 among the judgment creditors of the vendee who had 
 liens upon his equitable interest, and if there be any 
 surplus it would belong to the vendee. 
 
REMEDY BY BILL. 49 
 
 v. THE REMEDY UPON THE CONTRACT. , 
 
 That may be either by a bill for specific per- 
 formance, by an action of ejectment, or by action 
 upon the contract for its breach. 
 
 Bill for Specific Relief. — I have already men- 
 tioned the general principles upon which the Courts 
 of Equity proceed in the enforcing of specific perform- 
 ance of contracts for the sale of lands, and how that 
 remedy differs from the redress afforded by a 
 'common law court under like circumstances. It must 
 be remembered, however, that specific performance is 
 a matter of grace, and not of right, and the chancellor, 
 if he finds reasons to withhold his assistance, will 
 refuse specific performance and leave the party to his 
 remedy by an action at law for damages. It must 
 affirmatively appear that the contract is valid and 
 binding, it must be certain and capable of being 
 enforced, it must be jair and equitable and upon 
 sufficient consideration, and the plaintiff must show 
 that he has done, or is ready to do, all that is required 
 upon his part. What I have to say on the subject 
 of the contract being binding and certain was said at 
 the last lecture, and I will not recapitulate it now. 
 With regard to the contract being one capable of 
 being enforced, that is, equivalent to saying that the 
 court will not make a vain decree which cannot be 
 
50 REMEDY BY BILL. 
 
 obeyed. Thus, if a man agrees to sell real estate 
 to which he has no title whatever, it would be absurd 
 to say that he shall complete that contract by convey- 
 ing the estate to his vendee. It is impracticable 
 and cannot be enforced. 
 
 Dower. — Let me illustrate this by a case of some- 
 what frequent occurrence. This rule is applied to the 
 case of an agreement by a married man, to sell and 
 convey his estate in land, where his wife refuses to join 
 in the deed of conveyance. It was at one time the rule 
 in equity that the court would enforce the perform- 
 ance of such an agreement by a process of contempt 
 against the husband, until he exerted his authority 
 over his wife, or until her acquiescence should be 
 extorted by affection or fear ; but it has long been 
 settled that equity will not decree specific performance 
 of the contract under such circumstances ; for it was 
 found that in some cases the imprisonment of the 
 husband was not such a hardship to the wife as to 
 induce her to part with her rights ; and besides, it 
 would be a mockery to procure the conveyance of 
 the wife, in a manner sufficient to bar her dower, by 
 exerting such a constraint upon her, and at the same 
 time to require her to acknowledge solemnly that she 
 executed the deed of her own free will and accord, 
 and without any coercion or compulsion by her 
 husband, as required by the statute. 1 The vendee 
 may recover damages for the breach of such a con- 
 
 1 Clark v. Seirer, 7 Watts, 107 ; Weller v. Weyand, 2 Grant, 103. 
 
REMEDY BY BILL. 5I 
 
 tract in an action at law, however, for the husband 
 ought not to have made a contract which he proved 
 unable to fulfil. 
 
 It is well settled that the court will not en- 
 force an unwilling purchaser to take a doubtful 
 or unmarketable title, yet if the seller have any 
 title at all, and the purchaser wishes to have 
 it and pay for it, such as it is, it must be con- 
 veyed to him ; for it would be unjust to 
 allow the seller to take advantage of his own 
 wrong, or default, or misdescription. Therefore, 
 where the title or the property so far falls short 
 of that agreed for, that the court would not compel 
 the purchaser to take it, the choice rests with him 
 to take it or not, or to have so much of the agree- 
 ment performed as the seller can perform, and to 
 have an abatement out of the purchase money, or 
 a compensation in some way for the deficiency in 
 title, quality, quantity, or other matter, where the 
 seller's ability to perform falls short of his contract. 
 But not in every case will the' court allow such 
 rebate. It is only where it is just and equitable 
 to do so, and where it can be done without making 
 any material alteration of the contract,, as the parties 
 intended it. Otherwise the decree might, in effect, 
 make a new contract for the parties — one which, 
 perhaps, they would not have made for themselves. 
 Thus, in a case where a bill was filed to enforce a 
 contract by a married man to sell land, and his wife 
 refused to join in the deed, the Court of Common 
 
5 2 REMEDY BY BILL. 
 
 Pleas referred the cause to a master, to report 
 what abatement from the price, or change in the 
 terms, should be made. The master reported that 
 forty per cent, of the purchase money should remain 
 on mortgage, as a security to the vendee against 
 the possibility of the wife surviving her husband 
 and claiming dower ; but the Supreme Court 
 reversed the decree, and dismissed the bill on the 
 ground that the wife's refusal to join in the deed 
 was a bar to specific performance at all, unless 
 the vendee was willing to take the husband's deed 
 alone, and pay the whole price. If he did not 
 choose to do so, he must be left to his remedy in 
 an action for damages. 1 
 
 If however, the vendee is willing to pay the whole 
 price agreed, and take such title as the vendor can 
 give, — that is, subject to the wife's dower, — the court 
 will make a decree to that effect. 2 Therefore as a 
 matter of practice, if a conveyancer or lawyer wishes 
 to draw a contract for a sale of land by a husband, in 
 such a way as to render a purchaser secure of getting 
 the title, he must have the contract executed and 
 separately acknowledged by the wife also, in the same 
 manner that her deeds are required by the statute to 
 be acknowledged, and then the court will decree 
 specific performance • by both husband and wife. 3 
 Such an acknowledgement will avail for a contract of 
 
 1 JHeisz's Appeal, 23 P. F. Smith, 485. 
 1 Burke's Appeal, 25 P. F. Smith, 141. 
 s Daniellv. Hunter, 11 P. F. Smith, 382. 
 
MUTUALITY. 53 
 
 sale of the land, whether it belongs to the husband or 
 to the wife, but without that acknowledgment the 
 courts will not interfere. 1 If the vendor should die 
 without executing the contract, and the vendee should 
 pursue the remedy for specific performance prescribed 
 by the acts of assembly to enforce contracts of 
 decedents, the decree authorized by the statute, 
 whether it be made by the Orphans' Court or by the 
 Court of Common Pleas, will not carry the property 
 to the purchaser clear of the wife's dower. In no way 
 can her dower in her husband's land be divested, 
 without her consent, except upon an execution against 
 her husband, or a sale for the payment of his debts. 2 
 
 Mutuality. — -Moreover, the contract must be fair 
 and equitable, and upon sufficient consideration. It 
 must be manifest that no unfair advantage has been 
 taken, and no trick or undue influence exerted, in 
 making the contract. For, as the granting of a 
 decree is of grace and not of right, there are many 
 cases in which a plaintiff could recover -damages at 
 law for the breach of a contract, upon which he has 
 no standing whatever in a court of equity. In such 
 cases the bill is dismissed without prejudice, that is, 
 without so far determining the question of right as to 
 make the decree a bar to an action as rem ad- 
 judicatam. A contract is not fair unless it is 
 mutually binding, and it is a cardinal principle that 
 
 1 Roseburg v. Sterling, 3 Casey, 392. 
 
 2 Riddlesberger v . Mentzer, 7 Watts, 141 
 
 5 
 
54 REMED Y BY BILL. 
 
 a chancellor, when uncontrolled by arbitrary enact- 
 ment, executes no contract which is not the source of 
 mutual obligation and mutual remedy. Thus, as I 
 said in the last lecture, a contract, wholly verbal, for 
 the sale of land, cannot be enforced against the 
 vendor, because of the statute of frauds — neither can 
 he recover the purchase money against the vendee, 
 because that would be to allow him to enforce a 
 contract which he need not keep unless he chooses, 
 and which is totally devoid of mutuality. 
 
 Marketable Title. — The plaintiff must show that 
 he has done, or is ready to do, all that is justly 
 required on his part. He must be able to show 
 that he has a marketable title which is beyond 
 reasonable uncertainty. 1 "It has been well and 
 " wisely settled," says Judge Sharswood, "that under 
 " a contract for the sale of real estate the vendee has 
 " the right to have conveyed to him, not merely a 
 " good, but an indubitable title. Only such a title is 
 " deemed marketable, for otherwise the purchaser 
 " may be buying a law suit, which will be a very 
 " serious loss to him, both of time and money, even 
 " if he ultimately succeeds." * In a court of law the 
 question is whether the title is good or bad. The 
 distinction between a good title and a marketable 
 title is peculiar to a court of equity. 3 But what is 
 
 1 Swain v. Fidelity Insurance Company, 4 P. F. Sm. 455. 
 
 2 Swayne v. Lyon, 17 P. F. Sm. 439. 
 
 3 Nicolv. Carr, 11 Casey, 381. 
 
MARKETABLE TITLE. 55 
 
 a marketable title, is a very difficult definition to 
 give. In Dalzell v. Crawford? — a case always 
 referred to on this question — Judge King stated, as 
 the result of the equity doctrine, that no title will 
 be forced upon an unwilling purchaser if he is able 
 to raise any question of law or fact, which may 
 appear to a judge sitting in equity, so doubtful 
 that a title involving it ought not to be enforced. 
 The doubts, however, which will operate on a cour 
 of equity are not doubts made up for the occasion, 
 not based on captious, frivolous and astute niceties, 
 but such as produce real bona fide hesitation in the 
 mind of the chancellor. The doubts must be con- 
 siderable and rational, such as would and ought to 
 induce a prudent man to pause and hesitate in the 
 acceptance of title. 3 
 
 A vendor who is unable to give possession with- 
 out probable litigation, is not in position to ask for 
 specific performance, and he is left to his remedy 
 at law for a breach of contract, 3 or, where there 
 is a single contract for the sale of several pieces 
 of property, and the contract is entire, a failure of 
 title to a part of property, or to one piece, is a bar 
 to specific performance of the contract as to the 
 remainder, if the purchaser be unwilling. 4 
 
 Compensation. — There are cases where the court 
 
 1 I Parsons, 46; 1 Clark's L. J. Rep. 155. 
 
 ' Anschutz v. Miller, 2 Weekly Notes, 547. 
 
 3 Deck's Appeal, 7 P. F. Smith, 467. 
 
 * Finley v. Aiken, I Grant, 83 ; Freetly v. Barnhart, 1 P. F. Smith, 279. 
 
5 6 REMED Y BY BILL. 
 
 will grant specific performance with compensation, 
 as it is called ; — where the plaintiff is not able to 
 show a strict compliance with his agreement, and 
 therefore could not recover on the contract in a 
 court of law. But such decree will be made only 
 where the deficiencies are of little importance, and 
 in no case where the defect is in a matter which 
 formed an inducement to the purchase. 
 
 Time not Material. — The most frequent occasion 
 for its exercise occurs in cases where the plaintiff 
 has not come up to the requirement of his contract 
 with respect to the time limited for its performance. 
 At law time is material, and a failure in this respect 
 is fatal to the claim of the party in default, but in 
 equity time is not generally deemed to be of the 
 essence of the contract, unless the parties have so 
 expressly treated it, or it necessarily follows from 
 the nature and circumstances of the contract. 1 
 
 Of course, if the plaintiff has come short of his 
 contract in respect of time, he must furnish a 
 reasonable excuse. Laches are a bar to his claim, 
 and in a suit for specific performance, as well as in 
 every other proceeding in equity, — perhaps more than 
 in any other — a stale claim is never favoured. 2 There 
 is nothing to prevent parties from binding themselves 
 as to the time of performance if they choose to do 
 
 1 Remington v. Irwin, 2 Harris, 143. 
 
 2 Cadwalader's 4pp'al, 7 P- F. Sm. 158; Piersol v. Neill, 13 P. F. Sm. 
 420. 
 
BILL A GAINST PUR CHASER. 5 7 
 
 so, and when they make such a contract, it will be 
 strictly enforced. 1 
 
 Where time is not of the essence of the contract 
 a decree may be made against a purchaser, if the 
 seller can make a good title at the time of the decree, 
 unless there has been bad faith, or an improper 
 speculation.' But a party cannot speculate upon a 
 title which he does not own or control, and then ask 
 for a decree for specific performance. 3 
 
 Bill against Purchaser. — While there can be no 
 doubt that, in any case of a contract for the sale of 
 real estate coming within the requirements that I 
 have mentioned, a vendee would have the right to 
 go into equity for specific performance, it cannot be 
 said, under the decisions in Pennsylvania, that a 
 vendor is entitled, under all circumstances, to the 
 same remedy. It is necessary that the vendee 
 should have the means of compelling his vendor 
 to make a conveyance to him on receipt of the pur. 
 chase money, and as there is no proceeding, known 
 to the common law, by which such a result can 
 be reached, he will be without remedy unless he 
 has relief in equity ; where the chancellor's decree 
 can accomplish precisely the result desired. But 
 the vendee has promised only to pay money, and an 
 action upon the contract for the purchase money, 
 brought in a court of law, by the vendor against 
 
 1 Patchin v. Lamborn, 7 Casey, 314. 
 
 2 Lay v. Huber, 3 Watts, 367 ; Tieman v. Roland, 3 Harris, 439. 
 ' Clark v. Vanatta, 12 Harris, 257. 
 
5 8 REMEDY BY BILL. 
 
 the vendee, is an entirely sufficient remedy in a 
 great majority of cases. 
 
 This was the argument of the English Court of 
 
 Exchequer in the old case of Armiger v. Clark? 
 
 decided in 1722, where the Chief Baron said, "if a 
 
 " man comes for specific performance as to land itself, 
 
 " a court of equity ought to carry it into execution, 
 
 " because there is no remedy at law ; but if it is 
 
 " to have a performance in payment of money, 
 
 " they may have a remedy for that at law." But 
 
 the doctrine was not received with favour, and it 
 
 was soon settled by the English chancellors that 
 
 the vendor should have the same remedy by bill 
 
 for specific performance as the purchaser — although 
 
 the relief extended no further than the collection 
 
 of a sum of money. This, not only because the 
 
 action at law was not a remedy adequate to that 
 
 of a bill in equity, but also upon the distinct ground 
 
 that the remedy between the purchaser and the 
 
 vendor should be mutual. 2 
 
 When, in 1836, equity jurisdiction was conferred 
 upon our courts by statute, they were ' expressly 
 given power " to afford specific relief, when a recovery 
 " in damages would be an inadequate remedy." 
 Under this, there can be no question that it was 
 the commonly received interpretation, that all cases 
 where courts of equity enforced specific perform- 
 ance under equitable doctrines, were included, and 
 
 1 Bunbury's Reports, m. 
 
 2 Witting v. Cottal, I Sim. & Stu. 174 ; Adderly v. Dixon, 1 Sim. & Stu. 607. 
 
BILL AGAINST PURCHASER. 59 
 
 the report books of our courts furnish very many 
 instances of bills brought by vendor against vendee 
 to enforce payment of the purchase money, which 
 were sustained without question. 1 
 
 It is true that there was in Pennsylvania a large 
 number of lawyers and judges, chiefly among the 
 elders of the bar and bench, who were extremely 
 hostile to the introduction of chancery forms of 
 procedure, from the sincere belief that complete 
 justice had been done and could be done under 
 our Pennsylvania system. An able exposition of 
 the views of that class of the profession is to be 
 found in the dissenting opinion of Judge Black, 
 read in the case I have last mentioned. " I may as 
 well confess myself," said he, " to be among those 
 " who are steadfastly opposed to any extension 
 " whatever of the chancery powers, except where 
 " it is manifestly necessary to prevent a failure of 
 "justice. I think it was not an ignorant prejudice, 
 " but high political wisdom which caused our 
 " ancestors to refuse a court of chancery any 
 " place among their judicial institutions. The men 
 " who founded this commonwealth, built up her 
 " reputation, achieved her liberties, and settled her 
 " land, knew very well the amount of good and 
 41 evil which such a court had done elsewhere, and 
 " upon sound and deliberate judgment they re- 
 " pudiated it as far as they could. The administra- 
 " tion of law, blended and mixed with the equity 
 
 1 Dalzell v. Crawford, I Pars. 37 ; Finley v. Aikin, I Grant, 83. 
 
60 RE MED Y BY BILL . 
 
 " principles, was a happy conception. It is no 
 " bungling substitute, but a most admirable improve- 
 " ment of both legal and chancery practice. There 
 " never was any natural reason for separating 
 "justice from law or law from justice, and it was 
 " emphatically right to break down the artificial wall 
 " of partition, which certain professional interests 
 " had built up between them in the mother country. 
 " Some of the states of this Union, after a full 
 " trial of chancery, have imitated our example. 
 " Others are rapidly preparing to do so, and even 
 " English reform has gone far in the same direction. 
 " It is to be fervently hoped that we will not now 
 " extinguish the light by which the world has been 
 "walking. The right of trial by jury needs no 
 " vindication. It is necessary, if for nothing else, to 
 " check the tendency of the judicial mind to run 
 " into a metaphysical refinement. The two elements 
 " of a legal tribunal, the learning of the one, and 
 " the practical common sense of the other, have a 
 " most salutary influence upon the judgments which 
 " both most concur in pronouncing. No mode of 
 " ascertaining truth can be infallible, but with a jury 
 "that scorns all subtle evasions of plain justice, 
 " and a judge who frowns upon vulgar prejudices' 
 "we come as near the right as any system can 
 " come in this world. To that mode of trial we 
 " owe one mighty fact, viz. : that wherever it pre- 
 " vails, lawyers, with an influence always powerful 
 " and often preponderant, are the steady defenders 
 
BILL AGAINST PURCHASER. 6 1 
 
 " of rational, regulated, constitutional liberty, instead 
 " of being, what they are elsewhere, the mere tools 
 ,; of oppression." Upon the direct question involved, 
 Judge Black further says, using precisely the reason- 
 ing in Armiger v. Clark? "every bill for specific 
 " performance — this one like the rest — prays for 
 " relief on the express ground that the plaintiff 
 " has no remedy at law. Is the fact true in this 
 " case ? Assuming every averment of the bill to 
 " be correct, and the whole answer to be false, 
 " would not an action at law have given the plaintiff 
 " full, complete, and ample redress ? Certainly it 
 " would. He asks for nothing but money. The 
 " ultimate object of every word in the decree is to 
 "'put money in his purse.' Will it be pretended 
 " that a court and jury cannot give him as much 
 " money as he ought to have ? If justice to either 
 " party requires the verdict to be coupled with 
 ' conditions, has not all experience demonstrated 
 " that such conditions can be easily and safely 
 " imposed ? Cannot a legal tribunal determine how 
 " many dollars and cents will compensate a vendor 
 " of real estate for any breach of the contract, as 
 " easily as it can ascertain the amount due on a 
 " promissory note or a book account ? The truth 
 " is that this party, so far from being remediless at 
 " law, has an unusual variety of remedies by action, 
 " all of them cheap, easy, simple, certain and com- 
 " plete. He may bring suit for the first instalment. 
 
 1 Supra, page 56. 
 
62 REMED Y BY BILL. 
 
 " Retaining the title in his own hands, as a pledge 
 *' (literally a mortgage) for the balance, he can 
 " demand, when it becomes due, either that the land 
 *' shall be given up to him or sold to satisfy him. 
 " In case he sees proper to keep the land and sue 
 " on the broken covenant for damages merely, he 
 " can recover as much as will make him altogether 
 " whole. If the purchase money agreed on was 
 " more than the value of the property, or if the 
 " price has fallen in the meantime, he can recover 
 " the whole difference, together with full compen- 
 " sation for all his expense, disappointment and 
 " trouble. In either of these ways he would have 
 " the benefit of every equitable principle which a 
 " chancellor could administer. He did not come — 
 " he could not have come — into equity, because the 
 " law was defective, for the truth is otherwise." 
 This quotation is from a dissenting opinion, agreed 
 to by two judges out of five ; the majority of the 
 court having . decided the other way. 
 
 The difference between the English and the Penn- 
 sylvania rule (with regard to the jurisdiction of a 
 Court of Equity to entertain a bill against the 
 purchaser to compel payment of the purchase money 
 by him) was fully asserted, by the Supreme Court 
 in Kauffmaris Appeal* where, as euphemistically 
 stated by the reporter, " Finley v. Aiken, was ex- 
 " amined" and the doctrine was squarely asserted 
 by Justice Agnew, that, where nothing more is sought 
 
 1 S P. F. Sm. 383. 
 
BILL AGAINST PURCHASER. 63 
 
 by the bill than the payment of the purchase money, 
 the court will not entertain it, but will leave the 
 plaintiff to his remedy by an action at law. And 
 this was affirmed in DecKs Appeal? where the same 
 judge used the following language: "Here the 
 " plaintiff has a complete and adequate remedy 
 " upon his covenant. He only seeks to recover his 
 " money, and this he can easily do by an action, if 
 " he have fulfilled his own part of the contract. We 
 " have said, in a case decided at Harrisburg [Kauff- 
 " man's Appeal), that where there is nothing whatever 
 " in the circumstances of the case requiring the aid 
 " of chancery to give effect to the contract, and the 
 " bill for specific performance is simply an action, 
 " and nothing more, to recover purchase money, we 
 " will not entertain it. The decree in such case 
 " being of grace merely, and the party having a 
 " full and adequate remedy at law, we will not lend 
 " the strong arm of chancery, armed with the power 
 " to arrest the body for contempt, to enforce the 
 " payment of a mere debt from which the body is 
 " exempt under the non-imprisonment law." 
 
 The reasoning of Judge Black in Finley v. Aiken 
 was in opposition to the general current of authority 
 on the question of equity jurisdiction, both at the 
 time his opinion was delivered, and since. 2 If the 
 courts could proceed according to equity forms, 
 
 1 7 P. F. Sm. 467. 
 
 2 Kirkpatrick v. McDonald, I Jones 393; Yard v. Patton, I Harris 281 ; 
 Stephens v. Forsyth, 2 Har. 68 ; Wistar v. McManes, 4 P. F. Sm. 328 ; Unangst's 
 Appeal, S P. F. Sm. 138. 
 
64 EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 
 
 only where the plaintiff had no remedy according 
 to common law' forms in this State, the equity juris- 
 diction would have been a very narrow one indeed, 
 for equitable principles had been so long a part of 
 our common law, and the forms of proceedings in 
 our courts had been so moulded to allow of their 
 enforcement, that there remained very little that 
 could not be accomplished, in the way of giving 
 relief, without resorting to a bill in equity. It was 
 held by Chief Justice Gibson, as early as 1849, 1 that 
 the extension of the remedy by actions at law, to 
 cases originally within the jurisdiction of equity, 
 and particularly the system adopted in Pennsyl- 
 vania of administering equitable relief through the 
 medium of common law forms, is no bar to the 
 equitable jurisdiction of the courts for the same 
 cause. 
 
 It is difficult to see any good reason why the 
 decision of the Supreme Court in Finley v. Aiken 
 should have been practically overruled, as it. has been. 
 That decision was in harmony with the English cases, 
 and there existed the same grounds here as there, 
 why the remedy in equity should be mutually open 
 to both parties. The reason given in the able 
 opinion in Decks Appeal* seems to me to be insuffi- 
 cient, viz. ; that chancery might enforce a decree for 
 payment of the purchase money, by an arrest for 
 contempt. The act of 1842, forbidding imprisonment 
 for debt, expressly prohibits the arrest of any person 
 
 1 Wesleyq,n Church v. Moore, 10 Barr, 274. J Supra, page 61. 
 
EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 65 
 
 for the payment of money under a decree founded 
 on contract ; and the opinion of the profession on 
 the application of that statute is fairly shown by the 
 opinion of Judge King in the case of Hugg, et a/., 1 
 where he decided that a defendant cannot be taken 
 in execution by process, either in equity or at law, 
 where the decree is for the payment of money 
 founded on contract. 
 
 I think it might safely be asserted that a 
 very large number of cases could be found in the 
 reports of the Supreme Court, where such bills by 
 vendors against vendees have been filed and decrees 
 made upon them without question, but the safer 
 plan for a practitioner to adopt is to bring his action 
 for the purchase money, in all cases where it can 
 be maintained. 2 
 
 But after these decisions it cannot be affirmed that, 
 as a general rule in this State, a bill in equity will 
 lie against a purchaser to enforce payment of the 
 purchase money ; and perhaps it would be venturing 
 too far, and would amount only to a conjecture, if I 
 were to undertake to define exactly the limits of 
 this equitable jurisdiction. Generally speaking, in 
 order to entitle a vendor to maintain a bill, there 
 must be some failure on his part to observe the 
 minor or less important stipulations of the contract, 
 which a court of equity would excuse, but which 
 
 1 1 Clark's L. J. Rep. 154. 
 
 * Speakman v. Forepaugh, 8 Wright, 363; McBride v. Smyth, 4 P. F. Sm. 
 245- Nicholson v. Settle, 7 P. F. Sm. 384; JDoebUr's Appeal, 14 P. F. Sm. 9; 
 Swain v. Fidelity Co., 4 P. F. Sm. 455 i Womrath v. McCormick, 1 P. F. Sm. 504. 
 
66 EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 
 
 might seriously affect his remedy in a common law 
 action ; or there must be some act to be done by the 
 purchaser, more than the mere payment of money, 
 which is sought to be enforced by the decree. If 
 there be such, it seems that his bill may be main- 
 tained, otherwise an objection to the jurisdiction is 
 fatal. 
 
 Equitable Ejectment. — The circumstance which I 
 have so frequently mentioned, that for a hundred 
 years we administered equity through common law 
 forms in Pennsylvania, gave rise to another remedy, 
 which, during that period, was very commonly used 
 to enforce specific performance of contracts with 
 respect to real estate. That is the action of equitable 
 ejectment. If the vendor, after the articles, remained 
 in possession of the land, there was no other method 
 for the vendee to adopt to enforce specific per- 
 formance, than to pay or tender the purchase 
 money in full, and bring an action of ejectment 
 to recover the possession upon his equitable title, 
 and in all cases where a court of equity in England 
 would enforce specific performance upon a bill, a 
 court of common law in Pennsylvania can direct 
 a verdict for the plaintiff in ejectment, and thus 
 allow him to enforce his equity by the recovery 
 of possession. The same remedy also was used in 
 cases where, under the articles, the vendee went 
 into possession, leaving the legal title outstanding 
 in the vendor, as security for the unpaid purchase 
 
EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. ^ 
 
 money. The vendor had his choice either to bring 
 an action of debt or covenant upon his articles for 
 the money, or to bring an action of ejectment to 
 recover possession of the land, which could only 
 be defeated by the payment of the balance due. 
 Of course the remedy by ejectment would naturally 
 be the most effectual, for it would give him the 
 land back again, unless his money was paid, with- 
 out going to the expense and trouble of a sheriff's 
 sale, and the delay in getting possession by that 
 
 means. 
 
 Ejectment Substitute for Bill. — By means of con- 
 ditional verdicts, the common law action of ejectment 
 was so moulded as to do complete justice between the 
 parties, and to form a good practical substitute 
 for the remedy by bill. It was said by Judge 
 Huston, in 1840, that "greatly more than half our 
 " ejectments are of this description." 1 
 
 How completely our courts succeeded in giving to 
 an equitable ejectment all the substantial incidents of 
 a suit in equity may be seen from a cursory view of 
 the authorities. The judge trying such a cause is a 
 chancellor, and as Judge Sharswood said in a recent 
 case, " the jury are merely his assessors, to assist 
 " him upon the credibility of witnesses, and in 
 " reconciling conflicting testimony." 2 The relative 
 duties of judge and jury are entirely different from 
 those devolving on them in ordinary common law 
 
 1 Scitzinger v. Ridgway, 9 Watts, 507. » Robinson v. Buck, 21 P. F. Sm. 391. 
 
68 EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 
 
 actions. The conscience of the chancellor must be 
 satisfied, for it is he, and. not the jury, who is 
 charged with administering the equities of the case. 
 The judge controls the decision, and if the case of 
 the plaintiff be, in his opinion, one which would 
 not move a chancellor to decree a specific perform- 
 ance, or to grant relief, he must withdraw the case 
 from the jury and give them binding instructions 
 to find for the defendant ; if the case on the testi- 
 mony should be sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to 
 relief, then he should so instruct the jury and leave 
 them to find whether the evidence be true or not. 
 C. J. Gibson likens an equitable ejectment to the 
 trial of an issue directed by a chancellor to find 
 the facts, in ease of his conscience. 1 The chancellor 
 is not bound by the verdict, but may direct any 
 number of new trials, or decide in opposition to the 
 verdict. And although the court cannot give judg- 
 ment in ejectment against the verdict, yet it will 
 and ought to set it aside, unless the case is clearly 
 a suitable one for equitable interposition.' 
 
 The conferring of equitable powers to decree 
 specific performance by bill has not taken away from 
 our courts anything of the jurisdiction they possessed 
 to afford the same relief through common law forms. 
 This has been decided so often as to need no refer- 
 ence to authority. It has been a favorite method 
 of administering justice with our courts. In Church 
 
 1 Brawdy v. Braivdy, 7 Ban", 158. 
 
 2 Piersollv. Neill, 13 P. F. Sm. 420; Miller v. Henlan, 1 P. F. Sm. 265. 
 
SUBSTITUTE FOR BILL. 69 
 
 v. Ruland? it was argued by counsel that the equit- 
 able ejectment was merely a substitute adopted from 
 necessity to enforce equities, at a time when that 
 could not be done in the regular way ; and now that 
 the courts could give relief by bill, the equitable 
 action ought to be considered as obsolete. But the 
 court referred to the numerous cases, since the act 
 of 1836, in which equitable ejectments had been 
 maintained, and in which the same question h^d 
 been decided, and then continued : 
 
 " Nor is such an administration of equity justly 
 " open to the reproaches cast upon it in the oral 
 " argument in this case. It is not the substitution 
 " of twelve unlearned chancellors for a lawyer pre- 
 " pared for his office by the lucubrations of twenty 
 " years. The judge in reality is the chancellor with 
 " the assistance of a jury. It is not like ordinary 
 " trials at law, where any evidence, reasonably tend 
 " ing to prove a fact, must be submitted to be 
 " passed upon by that tribunal. The conscience of 
 " the judge, as chancellor, must be satisfied, and 
 " what goes to the jury is to determine the credibility 
 " of the witnesses, and to weigh and decide upon 
 " the force and effect of conflicting testimony. What 
 " is this but the trial of a feigned issue out of 
 " chancery ? If the evidence is too vague, uncertain 
 " or doubtful to establish the equity set up, even if 
 "believed, it is the duty of the judge to withdraw 
 
 1 14 P. F. Sm 441. 
 6 
 
7 o EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 
 
 " it from the jury, either by a nonsuit, or a binding 
 " direction in his charge, as the case may require." 
 
 Conditional Verdict. — The method by which the 
 equities are administered in this mode of proceeding, — 
 is — as has been said — a conditional verdict, by which 
 the jury, under instructions from the court, find a 
 verdict and annex it to certain conditions or qualifi- 
 cations which are to be satisfied and fulfilled before 
 the successful party is entitled to its benefit. 
 
 As applied to cases arising on contracts of sale, 
 such conditions usually are for the payment of money 
 within a specified time. If the vendee be in pos- 
 session, and the ejectment be brought by vendor 
 to enforce payment of the unpaid purchase money, 
 the verdict would usually be for plaintiff, to be re- 
 leased if the defendant pay the balance within a 
 given time. If the vendor be in possession, suit 
 being by vendee to enforce specific performance, 
 the verdict would be for plaintiff, to become void 
 if balance should not be paid. 1 
 
 A time within which the payment is to be made 
 must always be fixed by the. verdict, and a judgment 
 on a verdict defective in this respect is erroneous and 
 will be reversed. 5 
 
 The time for payment fixed by the verdict is of 
 the essence of the finding, and a failure to pay on 
 
 1 Hill v. Oliphant, 5 Wright, 374. 
 
 2 Thompson v. McKinley, 11 Wright, 353. 
 
CONDITIONAL VERDICT. 7I 
 
 or before the day amounts to a rescission of the con- 
 tract and is conclusive upon the rights of the parties. 1 
 
 And in this respect the plaintiff, if he be bound 
 to any payment by the conditions of the verdict, is 
 as liable to lose its benefit as the defendant. A vendee 
 seeking specific performance in ejectment, must pay 
 the balance of the purchase money found by the 
 verdict to be due, within the limited period, or he 
 is concluded by the verdict and his equity to the 
 land is gone. 2 
 
 After the verdict and judgment the whole matter 
 is in the hands of the court. The time of payment 
 may be enlarged, or the money may be ordered into 
 court to await the making of proper conveyances. 3 
 And if the vendor can make title only to an undi- 
 vided part of the property sold, the vendee may 
 elect to take such part -and will be required to pay 
 only the proportional part of the purchase money. 
 If he has paid the whole purchase money into court, 
 he will be allowed to take out the surplus after pay- 
 ing for so much of the propecty as can be conveyed 
 to him. 4 
 
 One Judgment Enough. — The ordinary rule estab- 
 lished by statute in regard to the conclusiveness of 
 a verdict and judgment, is that it requires two 
 
 i Act of 21 April, 1846, Purdon, p. 535, sec 18; Treaster v. Fleisher, 7 
 NY. & S. 137; Hewitt v. Hiding, I Jones, 35. 
 2 Hill v. Oliphrmt, 5 Wri^hi, 374. 
 ' Webster v. Webster, 3 Y. F. Sm. 161. 
 1 Erwin v. Myers, 10 Vv r. 9° J Nafitr v. Darlington, 20 P. F. Sm. 64. 
 
72 EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. 
 
 verdicts and judgments the same way, to settle the 
 questions of title involved in the cause, between, 
 the parties; either two in succession, or two out of 
 three. At common law, ejectment only determines 
 the right of possession, and a verdict and judgment 
 are not conclusive upon the title ; so that an 
 unsuccessful party who has lost one action might 
 begin another, and so on indefinitely. Equity, 
 however, interposed by injunction after repeated 
 trials all having the- same result, to stop further 
 vexation of the successful party, and to quiet his 
 possession. In the celebrated case of the Earl of 
 Bath v. Sherwzn,' the chancellor was applied to,, 
 to put a stop to a litigation based on the alleged 
 illegitimacy of a certain Duke of Albemarle,, 
 which had lasted through two generations, during 
 which time five actions of ejectment had been 
 tried, all resulting in favor of the plaintiff in chan- 
 cery. Lord Cowper dismissed the bill, but the 
 House of Lords on appeal reversed the chan- 
 cellors decree and ordered an injunction. This 
 established the equitable jurisdiction, and it has not 
 since been questioned. The rule was afterwards 
 settled that, after three verdicts in ejectment the 
 same way, the court would interpose to put an end 
 to the litigation, and as early as 1795, this was 
 adopted by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania." 
 The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff without 
 leaving the box. C. J. McKean then told the 
 
 1 4 Bro. Pari. Cas. 373. » Cherry v. Robinson, I Yea. 521. 
 
ONE JUDGMENT ENOUGH. 73 
 
 defendant that four different juries had united in 
 opinion concerning the title. It was high time, he 
 said, that peace should be restored between them ; 
 but if he still meant to contest the right, and worry 
 his adversary out, courts of justice would interfere 
 and prevent him from dragging his opponent into 
 further vexatious law suits. As equity would decree 
 an injunction after three trials, so would our courts 
 stay further proceeding by their summary powers 
 for the ends of justice. 
 
 The act of 1807, finally fixed the limit to the 
 number of ejectments, as I have already stated. 
 
 But the provisions of this act do not apply to 
 equitable ejectment at all. After a decree for specific 
 performance in chancery there could be no second 
 trial, and as the judgment in equitable ejectment is 
 the substitute for, and equivalent to, a decree, con- 
 sequently, one verdict and judgment in equitable 
 ejectment is a bar to further proceedings upon the 
 same equitable title, just as conclusively as a decree 
 in equity for specific performance would be. 1 
 
 This was decided in 1840, and in the following year 
 the Legislature adopted a joint resolution, declaring 
 that the act of 1807 should be construed to extend to 
 all actions of ejectment, whether brought on legal or 
 equitable title, or whether such action be brought as 
 -a substitute for a bill in equity, or for any other 
 purpose. This changed the rule for the time being, 
 but the resolutions were repealed by act of April 30th, 
 
 1 Setizinger v. Ridgway, 9 Watts, 496. 
 
74 REMED Y BY A CTION. 
 
 1850, and the law as declared in Seitzinger v. Ridg- 
 way was restored. 1 
 
 There must be a judgment entered. A verdict 
 without judgment is not enough. 2 
 
 Action for Breach of the Contract. — The 
 party who breaks his contract to buy or to sell real 
 estate is liable to the other party in an action. Such 
 actions differ from other actions upon contracts, chiefly,. 
 I may say only, in two important particulars. One of 
 these — the kind of evidence required — I have already 
 considered. The other difference is in the measure 
 of damages, which is the last subject that I will touch 
 upon. 
 
 Measure of Damages.- — It will be impossible for 
 me, in the brief time allowed, to discuss, even super- 
 ficially, the huge volume of conflicting and contrary 
 decisions on this vexed question to be found in the 
 English and American report books. I can only 
 indicate generally how the law now stands. 
 
 Damages are sought on such contracts on two 
 occasions — when the vendor refuses to convey, and 
 when the vendee refuses to pay. 
 
 Damages against Vendor. — The measure of dam- 
 ages in suits against the vendor, when he refuses or 
 is unable to convey,, depends upon the position he 
 
 1 Peterman v. Huling, 7 Cas. 432. 
 * Ferguson v. Staver, 4 Wr. 213. 
 
MEASURE OF DAMAGES. yr 
 
 occupies in the transaction.' It was determined long 
 ago in England, that where the vendor is unable to 
 convey a good title, and is not guilty of any fraud, 
 the purchaser cannot have any compensation for the 
 loss of his bargain ; but the damages must be con- ' 
 fined to the money paid, with interest, and actual 
 expenses incurred by the plaintiff. 1 
 
 This was an exception to the general rule as to 
 damages for breach of a contract of sale, which 
 is that the seller must pay the difference between 
 the contract price and the market value of the 
 article at the time when it should be delivered. 2 
 Consequently, where the vendor was able to convey 
 and refused, or where he acted fraudulently in making 
 the bargain, the general rule was applied, and the 
 disappointed vendee might recover not only the money 
 he was out of pocket on the transaction, but compen- 
 sation for the profit he would have made had the 
 vendor dealt fairly with him. 3 
 
 The reason of the distinction taken was stated by 
 Sir William Blackstone to be that contracts for the 
 sale of real estate " are merely upon conditions, 
 " frequently expressed, but always implied, that the 
 " vendor has a good title." But this remark is fairly 
 open to criticism, for, as was said by Lord Hatherly 
 in a recent case, " if the vendor's contract was on the 
 " condition that he had a good title, then, in the event 
 
 1 Flureau v. Thornhill, 2 W. Bl. 1078. 
 
 2 White v. Tompkins, 2 P. F. Sm. 363. 
 
 3 Wall v. The Real Propirty Co., L. R. 9, Q. B. 249. 
 
76 MEASURE OF DAMAGES. 
 
 " of the title failing, there would be no action for dam- 
 " ages whatever ; and there would be no power in 
 " the vendee to do that which he is always entitled 
 " in equity to do, namely, to insist upon having the 
 " title, good or bad, if he should be so minded." 1 
 
 The doctrine of Flureau v. Thornhill, has, however, 
 been recently fully established in England, and sub- 
 sequent cases qualifying it have been overruled. 1 
 
 And the same doctrine has been adopted by our 
 own Supreme Court. 2 The question, therefore, in an 
 action against a vendor, is whether he is honestly 
 unable to convey, or whether he is fraudulently seek- 
 ing to avoid a bad bargain. If he has acted with 
 good faith he can be compelled to pay only actual 
 damages suffered by the vendee ; but if he has been 
 guilty of collusion, tort, artifice, or fraud, it is other- 
 wise, and compensation for the loss of the bargain 
 may be added. 
 
 Damages on Verbal Contract. — Let me advert 
 now to what I said in the last lecture about the 
 Statute of Frauds — that the fourth section of the 
 British statute is not in force here, and, therefore, an 
 action may be brought for the breach of a parol 
 contract for the sale of land. In this respect, it has 
 been said with regret, the law of Pennsylvania differs 
 from that of every other State in the Union. 3 The 
 
 » 
 
 1 Bain t. FothergUl, L. R. 6 Exch, 59; L. R. 7 H. L. Cas. 158. 
 » Biinerv. Brough, 1 Jones, 127; McClowry v. Croghan, 7 Cas. 22. 
 3 Ewingy. Thompson, 16 P. F. Sm. 382. 
 
ON VERBAL CONTRACT. yj 
 
 result has been a great deal of litigation, and a con- 
 flicting and contradictory series of decisions which 
 cannot be reconciled. 
 
 I may mention, in passing, that the circumstance 
 that a Court of Equity has refused to enforce a 
 verbal contract, is no bar to a subsequent action to 
 recover damages for its breach. 1 
 
 The 'general rule, as now established, is that the 
 damages to be recovered for breach of a verbal 
 contract must not be such as to amount to an en- 
 forcement of performance of the contract. As Justice 
 Woodward said in a leading case, 2 " such actions were 
 " rare in the early history of our jurisprudence ; and 
 " when they were brought, the measure of damages, 
 " though not very distinctly defined in the cases, 
 " was so controlled that specific performance of the 
 " contract should not be virtually enforced. It is 
 " too manifest for debate, that if the value of the 
 " land may be recovered in an action of case upon 
 " the parol contract, the statute, as we have it, is 
 " as effectually evaded as if the land itself were 
 " recovered in ejectment. Therefore it was, that 
 " whilst the personal action was sustained, because 
 " forbidden by nothing in our statute, the damages 
 " recovered were measured by other standards than 
 " the value of the land at the time of the recovery. 
 " In some of the early cases, it would seem, the 
 " damages were merely nominal ; in none were they 
 
 1 Poorman v. Kilgore, I Wr. 309. 
 
 2 Hertzogv. Hertzog, 10 Cas. 418. 
 
78 MEASURE OF DAMAGES. 
 
 " more than compensatory of what had been paid 
 " on the footing of the contract." 
 
 This most notable exception to this rule, arose in 
 a class of cases (now overruled) where an owner of 
 land had verbally agreed to convey or devise land 
 in consideration of services to be performed for him 
 in his life time. It was held that such contracts 
 were not for the sale of land, but for services to be 
 paid for in land, and consequently they were not 
 within the ban of the statute ; and that the measure 
 of damages is not the value of the services but the 
 value of the land. 1 
 
 These decisions, it was truly and forcibly remarked, 
 " placed the value of all the real estate in Pennsyl- 
 " vania at the mercy of parol evidence in its most 
 " unsatisfactory and dangerous form," 2 and they have 
 been overruled, as I have said. The law is now 
 settled, by many subsequent decisions, and may be 
 formulated thus : 
 
 i. An action on verbal contract cannot be main- 
 tained for the purchase money, but damages for the 
 breach may be recovered. 3 
 
 2. Where the consideration is paid by the vendee 
 in services, the measure of damages is the value of 
 the services and not the value of the land. 4 
 
 1 Jack v. McKce, 9 Barr, 235 ; Bash v. Bash, 9 id, 260 ; Oyer v. McDowell, 
 9 Har. 417 ; Malaun v. Amnion, 1 Grant, 123. 
 
 2 Dissenting opinion of Woodward J., in Malaun v. Amnion, 1 Grant, 149. 
 
 3 Wilson v. Clarke, 1 W. & S. 554. 
 
 * Hertzog v. Hertzog, 10 Cas. 418 ; Dumars v. Miller, 10 Cas. 319; Ewing v. 
 Thompson, 16 P. F. Sm. 382. 
 
ON VERBAL CONTRACT. y g 
 
 3. The measure of damages in other cases, is the 
 money actually spent, or expenses incurred, by ven- 
 dee, including improvements made, on the faith of the 
 contract, deducting rents, if he has had possession ; 
 and not including the value of the bargain unless the 
 vendor has been guilty of fraud. 1 
 
 4. Where the vendor has been guilty of fraud, 
 the vendee may recover for the loss of his bargain, 
 although the suit be on a verbal contract. 2 
 
 • 5. But a mere breach of the contract, by a refusal 
 to convey, is not fraud in this sense, even though 
 the vendor has title and power. 3 
 
 Damages against Vendee. — Upon the vendee's 
 refusal to pay, the action against him will be either 
 to recover the purchase money with interest, or — 
 considering the contract at an end — to recover 
 damages for his refusal to take the land at the price 
 agreed on. For, of course, the future ownership of 
 the land depends upon the position taken by the 
 vendor as plaintiff. If by his action he recovers the 
 price, his right to the land is gone, and he is but a 
 trustee for the vendee, if he still holds the title. 
 This should always be made apparent upon the 
 record, either by the pleadings, or in some other 
 manner; although if the question be afterwards 
 raised, it is competent to show by oral testimony 
 
 1 Bender v. Bender, I Wright, 419 ; McNairv. Compton, II Cas. 23. 
 1 McNairv. Compton, supra ; Meason v. Kaine, 17 P. F. Sm. 126. 
 s Harris v. Harris, 20 P. F. Sm. 170; Thompson v. Sheplar, 22 P. F. Sm. 
 160; RuckertN. Domenec, 2 Weekly Notes, 195. 
 
80 MEASURE OF DAMAGES. 
 
 exactly what was tried and concluded by the 
 verdict. 1 
 
 Where the contract is a binding one, under the 
 statute of frauds, there is usually no reason why the 
 general rule which applies to all actions for. the breach 
 of a promise to pay money should not operate, 
 namely, that the measure of damages is the sum 
 promised to be paid, with interest from the time 
 when payment should have been made. 2 
 
 If, however, suit be brought for damages arising' 
 from the refusal, and not for the purchase money, 
 the measure of damages is the same as that on breach 
 of contract for the sale of a chattel, that is the differ- 
 ence between the contract price, and the diminished 
 value of the land at the time the contract ought to 
 have been executed. The difference may be ascer- 
 tained either by a re- sale at auction, or in any other 
 fair way satisfactory to the jury, and any special 
 damages the vendor may have sustained may be 
 added to the verdict. 3 
 
 I have already considered the question of damages 
 on a verbal contract as fully as time will admit. 
 
 Interest. — The general rule with respect to 
 interest upon purchase money, in the absence of 
 any express stipulation about it, is that where the 
 
 1 Erie Gas Co. v. Haverstick, 6 P. F. Sm. 28. 
 
 2 Tripp v. Bishop, 6 P. F. Sm. 424. 
 
 3 Sedgwick on Dam. (6th ed.) 222-3; -Ashcom v. Smith, 2 Pen. & W. 219; 
 Tompkins v. Haas, 2. Barr, 75; Baney v. Killmer, I id. 30; Bowser v. Cessna, 
 12 P. F. Sm. 148. 
 
LIMITATION. 8! 
 
 vendee is in possession he pays interest, and other- 
 wise not, for in the one case he is receiving the 
 profits of the land, if any, and in the other case the 
 vendor, receiving the profits, ought not to be entitled 
 to claim interest. 1 There are cases, however, where 
 this rule is not applied. 8 
 
 Limitation. — It only remains to notice the limita- 
 tion imposed on such suits or actions by the 6th 
 section of the act of April 2 2d, 1 85 6, 3 which enacts 
 that no rights of entry shall accrue, or action be main- 
 tained, for a specific performance of any contract for 
 the sale of any real estate, or for damages for non- 
 compliance with any such contract * * but within 
 five years after such contract was made, * * unless 
 such contract shall give a longer time" for its per- 
 formance, or there has been in part a substantial 
 performance, or such contract * * shall have been 
 acknowledged, by writing, to subsist by the party to 
 be charged therewith, within the same period. 
 
 But the statute does not run against a vendee so 
 long as he is in possession of the land sold. 4 
 
 In conclusion I wish only to remind you that I have, 
 as it were, merely sketched the outlines of a field 
 which you must go over in detail ; and I trust that I 
 
 1 R. R. Co. v. Cooper, 8 P. F. Sm. 408; Cox v. Henry, 8 Cas. 18. 
 
 2 Ty:on v. Passmore, 2 Barr, 122; McCormick v. Crall, 6 Watts, 207; Kester 
 v. Rockel, 2 W. & S. 365. 
 
 3 Purdon, 930, pi. 14- 
 
 * Webster v. Webster, 3 P. F. Sm. 161. 
 
82 CONCLUSION. 
 
 may have at least awakened your interest in this 
 important subject, the careful study of which will so 
 amply repay you. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
 
 A contract by a married woman must be separately- 
 acknowledged by her, 52 
 
 ACTION 
 
 will lie for breach of verbal contract, . . 12 
 
 for breach of contract, . 74 
 
 (See Damages.') 
 Limitation of actions on such contracts, . . 81 
 
 ATTACHMENT EXECUTION 
 
 will not lie for unpaid purchase money as a debt due 
 vendor, . 36 
 
 BARGAIN. (See Measure of Damages.) 
 
 BILL. (See Specific Performance?) 
 
 Remedy by bill for specific performance, 49, 66 
 
 What plaintiff must aver and prove, . . 49 
 
 Where vendor is a married man and his wife refuses to 
 
 join in conveyance, ... 50 
 
 sometimes dismissed without prejudice, . . 53 
 
 Such decree no bar to subsequent action, . . . 77 
 for purchase money only cannot be maintained, . 56, 65 
 
 BREACH OF CONTRACT. 
 
 Difference between law and equity, . 5 
 
 CHANGE OF POSSESSION 
 
 is necessary to take verbal contract out of statute of 
 frauds, ... . . . . i3 
 
 COMPENSATION. 
 
 Specific performance with compensation sometimes 
 decreed, . • • ■ • • - 5 1 » 55 
 
 CONDITIONAL VERDICT. (See Ejectment.) 
 
 (%3) 
 
8 4 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 CONTRACT. (See Breach, Measure of Damages, Mutuality, 
 Statute of Frauds, .) 
 
 Requisites of contract for sale of land, . . 9, 20 
 
 Vendor must sign. Vendee need not, . .12 
 
 Form of contract not at all material, . 13 
 
 Seal not necessary, ..... .14 
 
 must contain all the essential elements, 15 
 
 No words of inheritance necessary, . .16 
 
 (See Executory Contract. .) 
 
 Effect of contract for sale of land, 21 
 
 must be valid and binding, . . 49 
 
 capable of being enforced, 49 
 
 must be fair and equitable, . 53 
 
 must be performed by plaintiff, . 54 
 
 Time not usually of the essence of the contract, 56 
 
 Damages for breach of the contract, ... 76 
 
 CONVERSION. (See Equitable Conversion.') 
 
 What legal conversion is, . 21 
 
 CONVEYANCE 
 
 ordinarily destroys vendor's lien, . . . 28 
 
 Effect where wife refuses to join in conveyance, . 50-2 
 
 Purchase money may be ordered into court to await 
 
 conveyance, . .... 71 
 
 DAMAGES. (See Measure of Damages.) 
 
 may be recovered for breach of parol contract, though 
 specific performance be forbidden, . . 12 
 
 DECEDENT. 
 
 Verbal contract of decedent provided for by statute, . 18 
 Where the contract of a decedent is enforced the dower 
 of his widow is not barred, . . . . . 53 
 DEVISEE 
 
 of vendee is entitled to have the land paid for from tes- 
 tator's estate, . . - ... 2? 
 DISTRIBUTION 
 
 of proceeds of sheriff's sale of land which is under con- 
 
 tract > 36, 39. 45. 47. 48 
 
 DOWER. 
 
 Where the wife of vendor refuses to join in conveyance 
 no decree will be made, . . • . so 
 
INDEX. 
 
 85 
 
 DO WER.— Continued. 
 
 Unless the purchaser is willing to take subject to her 
 
 dower, and pay full price, ^i^ 2 
 
 Contract by husband and wife, separately acknowledged, 
 
 will be enforced against both, . . . . 52 
 not barred by decree to carry out contract of decedent, 53 
 
 EJECTMENT 
 
 . brought to enforce specific performance, ... 66 
 
 may be maintained in all cases where a chancellor would 
 
 grant relief, 66 
 
 may be brought by either party against the other in pos- 
 session, ........ 67 
 
 by vendor to collect purchase money, . . . 38, 67 
 
 Substitute for bill, 68 
 
 Functions of judge and jury in equitable ejectment, . 68 
 Conditional verdict in ejectment, .... 70 
 Time of payment must be fixed in verdict, . . 70 
 Time of payment is material, and both parties are bound 
 
 by it, 71 
 
 Time of payment may be enlarged by court, . . 71 
 Money may be ordered into court, . . . . 71 
 One verdict and judgment conclusive, . . . 73 
 Origin of rule as to number of verdicts stated, . . 71-3 
 ELECTION. 
 
 Where title is unmarketable, the purchaser may elect 
 
 whether to take or not, 51 
 
 EQUITABLE CONVERSION. 
 
 The doctrine stated, 21 
 
 Is a fiction, . . . . • • ■ • 21 
 
 Not extended to lien creditors of vendor, subsequent to 
 contract, ........ 35 
 
 How applied in cases other than those arising on con- 
 tracts of sale, 37 
 
 EQUITABLE EJECTMENT. (See Ejectment.') 
 EQUITY. (See Fraud, Part Performance, Specific Perform- 
 ance, Words of Inheritance, Time.) 
 View taken of breach of contract, .... 5 
 
 Courts of equity bound by statutes, . . . . 17 
 No courts of equity in Pennsylvania from 1736 to 1836, 8 
 System in Pennsylvania considered, . . . . 58, 64 
 restrains vexatious litigation in ejectment, . . 72 
 
 7 
 
85 INDEX. 
 
 EXECUTORY CONTRACT. 
 
 Words of inheritance not necessary ; in an executed con- 
 tract they are, 
 
 16 
 
 FEE. (See Executory Contract.) 
 
 FORM OF CONTRACT 
 
 under Statute of Frauds, *4 
 
 No form necessary, M 
 
 Must contain essential elements of contract, . . 15 
 
 FRAUD (See Statute of Frauds.) 
 
 by vendor changes the measure of damages, which may 
 be recovered against him, 75 > 79 
 
 HEIR 
 
 or devisee of vendee entitled to have land paid for 
 from his estate, ....... 25 
 
 HUSBAND. (See Dower.) 
 
 INHERITANCE. 
 
 Words .of, not necessary in executory contract, . 16 
 INJUNCTION 
 
 against vendee, from cutting timber, . . . 24 
 INTEREST. 
 
 When allowed on purchase money, .... 80 
 
 JUDGMENT (See Liens.) 
 
 against vendor, subsequent to contract, binds his estate 
 
 in the land, ....... 36 
 
 The same, against vendee, ..... 36 
 
 Attachment execution on judgment against vendor, will 
 
 not lie for unpaid purchase money, ... 36 
 against vendee binds his equitable estate only, subject 
 
 to the purchase money, ■ • • • • 39 
 against vendor — Sheriff's sale on, .... 47 
 against vendee — Sheriff 's sale on, .... 48 
 JURISDICTION 
 
 in equity to decree against purchaser, . . . 57 
 in ejectment not repealed by statute, ... 68 
 in equity and at law concurrent in some cases, . 64 
 
INDEX. 
 JURY. 
 
 87 
 
 Part performance not a question for, ... 20 
 
 in equitable ejectment, judges of fact only, . . 67 
 LACHES 
 
 a bar to decree for specific performance, . . . 56 
 LIENS (See Judgment.) 
 
 prior to the contract are unaffected by the contract, . 26 
 
 And are not discharged by a sheriff's sale, on a judg- 
 ment subsequent to the contract, • • • . 39 
 
 created by the contract. (See Vendor's Lien.) 
 
 subsequent to contract, may be upon estate either of 
 vendor or vendee, . . . . . . « 
 
 of judgments against vendor, subsequent to contract, 
 bind his estate only, and the same as to vendee, . 35 
 
 of judgments subsequent to contract, discharged by 
 sheriff's sale of the interest they bind, ■ ■ . 39 
 
 How proceeds of sheriff's sales are distributed among 
 lien creditors, .... 36, 39, 45, 47, 48 
 LIMITATION 
 
 of actions, on contract of sale of real estate to five 
 years, 81 
 
 Statute does not run against a vendee in possession, . 81 
 LOSS OF BARGAIN. (See Measure of Damages.) 
 
 MARKETABLE TITLE (See Election.) 
 
 distinguished from " good " title, . . . . 54 
 
 must be free from reasonable doubt, . . . 55 
 where possession cannot be delivered, the title is not 
 marketable, . . . . . . . 55 
 
 The title must be marketable at the time of the decree, 5 7 
 MARRIED WOMAN. (See Dower.) 
 MEASURE OF DAMAGES 
 
 in suits against vendor depends upon whether he has 
 
 been guilty of fraud, 75 
 
 If he has, or refuses to convey, the damages may in- 
 clude loss of bargain, 76 
 
 on verbal contract, 12, 76, 79 
 
 must not amount to enforcement of the contract, . 77 
 Where consideration is the services of the vendee, the 
 measure is the value of the services, not the value of 
 the land, 7 8 
 
gg INDEX. 
 
 MEASURE OF DAMAGES.— Continued. 
 
 The rule stated 7.8-9 
 
 in suits against vendee, . 79 
 
 When interest on the purchase money should be 
 allowed, 8o 
 
 MERGER 
 
 of legal and equitjable estates by conveyance, . . 4° 
 Effect of merger on liens, 4* 
 
 MORTGAGE. 
 
 The title of vendor, after contract, is like that of a 
 mortgagee, 2 4 
 
 MUTUALITY 
 
 is necessary to the validity of contract, . . • 13 
 
 A verbal contract is not binding on purchaser for want 
 of mutuality, . . • • ., • . 54 
 
 PARTITION. 
 
 A vendee in possession may maintain partition against a 
 co-tenant of his vendor, 25 
 
 PAYMENT. 
 
 Time of. (See Ejectment?) 
 PART PERFORMANCE 
 
 What it is, . 
 
 Change of possession indispensable, 
 
 The change must be after contract, 
 
 And in pursuance of it, . 
 
 Possession taken must be exclusive, 
 
 And co-extensive with the contract, . . 20 
 
 not a question for a jury, . . 20 
 
 POSSESSION. (See Part Performance.') 
 PURCHASE MONEY 
 
 a lien before conveyance, ... 23, 33 
 
 (See Vendor 's Lien.) 
 
 cannot be attached as a debt due to vendor, 
 
 Sheriff's sale on proceeding for, 
 
 Bill for purchase money only cannot be maintained, 
 
 may be ordered into court on a conditional verdict, 
 
 Interest on purchase money, .... 
 PURCHASER (See Vendee.) 
 
 from vendee, before conveyance, takes subject to lien for 
 purchase money, . , . . . . . 34 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 19 
 19 
 19 
 
 36 
 46 
 
 57-65 
 7i 
 
 80 
 
INDEX. 
 
 89 
 
 PURCHASER.— Continued. 
 
 from sheriff. (See Sheriff's Sales.) 
 
 may choose whether he will take an unmarketable 
 
 title, ......... 51 
 
 Bill against purchaser cannot be maintained if for 
 
 money only, 57) 65 
 
 QUESTION OF LAW. 
 
 Whether part performance has been made out, . . 20 
 The judge administers the equities in equitable ejectment, 67 
 
 REAL ESTATE. (See Equitable Conversion.) 
 REMEDY (See Action, Bill, Ejectment, Equity, Specific 
 Performance.) 
 ought to be mutual, ...... 64 
 
 SHERIFF'S SALE 
 
 on lien prior to contract passes title clear of the con- 
 tract, . . . . . . . . . 26, 44 
 
 on judgment against vendor subsequent to the contract, 35 
 
 in cases of equitable conversion under wills, . . 37 
 
 on judgment against vendee subsequent to contract, dis- 
 charges only liens on estate of vendee, ... 40 
 
 on lien prior to contract ; title of purchaser, . . 44 
 
 Distribution of proceeds, 45, 47, 48 
 
 on proceeding for purchase money passes whole estate 
 in the land, ....... 46 
 
 on judgment against vendor, subsequent to contract, 
 passes his estate only, ...... 47 
 
 on judgment against vendee passes only equitable estate, 
 subject to lien for unpaid purchase money, . . 48 
 
 SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE (See Bill, Ejectment, Laches.) 
 
 General principles, ... 5 
 
 not applicable to sales of chattels, 
 
 applicable to all sales of land, 
 
 of parol sales forbidden, 
 
 Bill for, what plaintiff must .show, 
 (See Bill.) 
 
 with compensation; when decreed, . . . 51-55 
 
 by Ejectment, (See Ejectment.) .... 66-74 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 49 
 
90 INDEX. 
 
 STATUTE OF FRAUDS. 
 
 Statement of, ....... 9 
 
 Pennsylvania statute, . . . • • • 1 1 
 
 (See Contract?) 
 Verbal contract binding under Pennsylvania statute, 
 
 although specific performance is forbidden, . . 12 
 Exception, (See Part Performance.) . . . 17 
 SURVEY 
 
 Ordered by court to ascertain boundaries, . . 15 
 
 TENANT IN COMMON 
 
 in possession cannot sell by verbal contract to his co- 
 tenant in possession, . . . . . . 19 
 
 TIMBER. 
 
 Vendee restrained from cutting timber before payment 
 of purchase money, ...... 24 
 
 TIME (See Ejectment, Laches.') 
 
 not material in equity, but may be made so by express 
 contract, ........ 56 
 
 TITLE PAPERS. 
 
 Possession of them was a badge of a good title in 
 England, ........ 28 
 
 VENDEE (Set Judgment, Purchaser.) 
 
 need not sign contract, . . . . . . 13 
 
 in equity is owner of the land sold, .... 23 
 
 Vendee's title not altered by non-payment of purchase 
 
 money, ........ 23 
 
 restrained by injunction from waste, . . . . 24 
 
 in possession may maintain partition, ... 25 
 
 Damages in suits against vendee, .... 79 
 
 VENDOR 
 
 must sign contract of sale, . . . . . 12 
 
 at law is owner after contract, . . . . . 21 
 
 in equity holds legal title as security only, . . 23 
 
 Vendor's position resembles mortgagee, ... 24 
 Liens against vendor, subsequent to contract, . • 35, 45 
 
 (See Judgments. ) 
 after contract may mortgage or convey his title as real 
 
 estate, ........ 38 
 
 may bring ejectment on his legal title, ... 38 
 
 Damages in action against vendor, .... 74 
 
INDEX. 
 
 91 
 
 VENDOR'S LIEN 
 
 arises from the contract itself, . . . . . 26 
 
 English doctrine stated, . . . . . . 27 
 
 repudiated in Pennsylvania, . . . . . 28 
 
 Generally conveyance destroys lien for purchase money, 28 
 
 Express contract for lien may be made in conveyance, 29 
 
 Express words necessary, . . . . . . 29 
 
 Mere recital that purchase money is not paid will not 
 
 suffice, ........ 31 
 
 Before conveyance the vendor holds legal title as 
 
 security for purchase money, . . . . 33 
 
 VERDICT. (See Ejectment.) 
 
 WASTE. 
 
 Vendee in possession must not commit waste, so as to 
 diminish security for the unpaid purchase money, . 24 
 WIFE. (See Bower.) 
 WORDS OF INHERITANCE. (See Executory Contract.) 
 
 The Publishers are indebted to Alfred I. Phillips, Esq., for kind assistance 
 in preparing this Index.