Brown Bros. Lumber Co. v. Preston Mill Co.

Citations

• 83 Wash. 648
• 145 P. 964
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 729

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser- — Contract—-Delivery. Delivery of a contract for the sale of land is not shown by the fact that the vendor handed it to the vendee with other papers, except the executed deed, for examination, and for which the vendor was to receive certain other lands, cash, and notes, and no tender of performance was made by the vendee for months.</p> <p>Same — Delivery—-Presumptions—Interest. The prima facie evidence of delivery from the fact of possession of an executory contract for the sale of land is less stringent than in the case of executed contracts; and whether there was a complete delivery depends on the intention of the parties, construed according to practical business rules.</p> <p>Same — Contracts—Acceptance — Reasonable Time — Estoppel. Where a deal for the sale of timber lands required the vendee to purchase the interest of a third party in other lands to be given in exchange, notwithstanding which the vendee was notified that the deal ought to be closed within a month, and for three months the vendor. constantly tried to have the deal closed, when it notified the vendee that it must be closed within one week, a reasonable time was given to the vendee to close the deal, in the absence of any explanation or excuse for the long delay; hence the vendor was not estopped from refusing to carry out the contract three weeks later when the vendee, having acquired the third party’s interest, finally tendered performance.</p>