Berwind v. Williams

Citations

• 172 Pa. 1
• 33 A. 353
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 724

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Beal estate — Vendor and vendee — Trust—Possession.</p> <p>Plaintiff acquired the legal and equitable title to land of which defendant was in possession. When the sheriff was about to serve a writ to put plaintiff in possession, plaintiff and defendant entered into an agreement in writing by which plaintiff gave to defendant an option to buy the land for a certain amount, in which defendant agreed that if he did not pay the price named before the day fixed, he would move out, and to that end would authorize the sheriff to deliver possession to plaintiff. Defendant did not pay the amount within the stipulated time, and the sheriff executed the writ, and delivered possession to plaintiff. Immediately afterward plaintiff permitted defendant to move his goods back upon the premises and resume possession. Defendant offered in evidence certain declarations of plaintiff that all he wanted out of the land was his money and interest. Plaintiff, however, testified that when he bought the equitable title he gave express notice that he was buying for himself, and that he allowed defendant to resume possession because defendant had no other place to go during the winter, and that he was only allowed to resume possession on an agreement that he would go out at the end of the winter, or that, if he remained, he would pay rent to be fixed at that time. Held, that the evidence was insufficient to justify a chancellor in decreeing an equitable title in defendant.</p>