Baxter v. Lamont

Citations

• 60 Ill. 237

Syllabus

<p>1. Agent — of a special agency. A special agent, to bind his principal, must act within the special authority conferred, and a part}'purchasing of such agent is bound, at his peril, to know the extent of the agent’s authority.</p> <p>2. A party authorized another by letter to sell for him a certain tract of land. The portion of the letter creating the authority was as follows: “My terms are, parties purchasing it to assume the mortgage now on it, due in one and two years from the twenty-second day of last March, of $5,275, the balance to be paid to me, one-third cash, the rest in one and two years, at eight per cenj. Now, if you can sell it on those terms within a few days, you can sell it for $800 per acre net.” The agent contracted a sale of the premises at $850 per acre on substantially the above terms, but with a condition giving the purchaser an option whether or not he would complete the purchase, allowing him thirty days after he was furnished with an abstract of the title, in which to decide, and with a further ..condition that, in case the title was not perfect, the vendor should pay $2,000 and all other damages and expenses. In an action by the purchaser against the vendor to recover damages for a failure to convey in compliance with the terms of the contract, the above conditions were regarded as exceeding the agent’s authority, and hence the contract was not binding on the principal.</p> <p>3. Contract — mutuality of obligation. The owner of certain lands contracted to sell to another at a specified price. The vendor was to receive in payment for the same $50, cash in hand, and so soon as the ven-dee was satisfied with the title, a conveyance W'as to be made to him,when he was to pay the purchase money according to the terms of the agreement : Held, there was no mutuality in the contract for which the vendor could be compelled to perform.</p>