Berry v. Woodburn

Citations

• 107 Cal. 504
• 40 P. 802
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 784

Syllabus

<p>Specific Performance—Parol Contract for Interest in Mine—Uncertainty.—A parol contract to the effect that, if the defendant should secure a paying quartz mine through the efforts of the plaintiff, the defendant would, in addition to wages, give to plaintiff an interest in such mine, is as to the interest to be given so uncertain and indefinite as to be unenforceable by a court of equity, and the court has no right to assume that the interest to be conveyed is a one-half interest rather than a one-eighth or any other interest, in the absence of an allegation and finding that the parties understood that they were to own equal and undivided interests in the mine.</p> <p>Id.—Mining Partnership—Contract of Hiring.—Although, in the absence of an express agreement as to the respective interests of mining partners, the law may declare them equal partners, yet there is no ele* ment of a mining partnership where the contract alleged is one of hiring to procure and work a mine for the defendant, upon the payment oí wages and the giving of an interest in the mine, in addition to wages conditioned upon its being found to be a paying mine.</p>