Batley v. Foerderer

Citations

• 162 Pa. 460
• 29 A. 868
• 1894 Pa. LEXIS 1002

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and vendee — Marketable title — Inoumbrance—Brewery.</p> <p>Where a deed in a vendor’s line of title contains a condition that no mill, factory, brewery or distillery shall be erected on the land, the vend- or has not a title which is either “good and marketable” or “clear of all incumbrances.”</p> <p>An incumbrance is eveiy right to or interest in the laud which may subsist in third persons, to the diminution of the value of the land but consistent with the passing of the fee by the conveyance.</p> <p>It seems that where buildings prohibited to be erected in a deed included only wooden structures prohibited by city ordinance or general law, the restriction is not open to objection by the vendee as an incumbrance upon the title.</p> <p>Doubtful title — Liability to litigation.</p> <p>Every title is doubtful which invites or exposes the party holding it to • litigation. If there be color of an outstanding title which may prove substantial, though there is not enough in evidence to enable the chancellor to say so, a purchaser will not be held to take it and encounter the hazard of litigation with an adverse claimant.</p> <p>Agreement to build particular kind of building — Title.</p> <p>An agreement for the sale of land stipulated that the vendee should build a certain number and particular kind of dwelling houses upon the land. In the line of the vendor’s title was a deed which prohibited the construction upon the land of any mill, factory, brewery or distillery. Held: (1) that the vendee’s agreement to build dwelling houses did not cure the imperfection in the vendor’s title; (2) that the stipulation was at most a mere personal covenant not running with the land, and would be sufficiently complied with by the mere construction of the houses without their continued maintenance.</p>