Bauer v. Hill

Citations

• 267 Pa. 559
• 110 A. 346
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 911

Syllabus

<p>Landlord and tenant — Lease—Surrender of possession on sale — • Time of notice — Agreement to sell — Title—Ejectment—Judgment hy confession — Proceedings to open — Equity—Technicality.</p> <p>1. A written agreement for the sale of a building constitutes a sale within the meaning of a lease providing for the surrender of possession by the tenant on notice that the property has been sold, so that a notice to the tenant to vacate is valid although given prior to the passing of the legal title.</p> <p>2. Technical questions in ejectment under a lease, not suggested in the petition to open the judgment, cannot be considered inasmuch as proceedings to open a confessed judgment are purely equitable in form, wherein the petition and answer comprise the pleadings, and the court grants relief only upon the grounds embraced therein.</p> <p>3. Not decided, as to authority to confess judgment on warrant in lease after the lessor has, in efEect, surrendered possession of the premises occupied by him, or whether such judgment could be confessed, under the terms of the lease, before an action of ejectment had actually been brought.</p> <p>4. An application to open a judgment is equitable in substance and must rest on a meritorious and not on a mere technical defense.</p> <p>Judgments — Proceedings to open — Appeals—Review of order— Merits of case — Discretion of court.</p> <p>5. An appeal from an order refusing to open a judgment which depends upon legal questions and deductions from undisputed facts, is before the appellate court for review on the merits, and not to determine whether the court has properly exercised its discretion.</p>