Castner v. Walrod

Citations

• 83 Ill. 171

Syllabus

<p>1. Laches—as a defense in equity. Where a party, with full knowledge of all the facts, sleeps upon his rights for nineteen years without asserting his equities, and no sufficient excuse is shown for the delay, his laches will be such as to present a bar to relief in a court of equity. A court of equity will not enforce a stale demand.</p> <p>2. Limitation—inequity. In the absence of a statute of limitations, the time in which a party will be barred from relief in a court of equity depends, to a certain extent, upon the facts of the particular case; but when the statute has fixed the period of limitation barring the claim at law, courts of equity, by analogy, will follow the limitation provided by law. A court of equity will often treat a less period of time as a presumptive bar to a recovery-</p> <p>3. Where a party procured a bond for a deed, and assigned the same through his son for money with which to make'a payment, and died, and the assignee completed the payments, taking a conveyance to himself, and went into possession of the land, and made valuable improvements thereon, and paid all taxes for a period of nineteen years, residing upon the premises, it was held, that the heirs of the original purchaser, having knowledge of the facts, were not entitled to relief in equity as against such grantee, on account of their long acquiescence and delay.</p> <p>4. Same—as against married woman. Since the passage of the Married Woman’s Act of 1861, the Statute of Limitations runs against a married woman the same as against a feme sole.</p> <p>5. Former decision. The expression in Morrison v. Norman, 47 111. 477, and Noble v. McFarland, 51 ib. 226, to the effect that the Married Woman’s Act of 1861 has no effect upon the saving clause in the limitation laws, is overruled.</p> <p>6. Statute—construction. Courts are not confined to the literal meaning of words in a statute, in its construction, but the intention may be collected from the necessity or cause of the act, and