Davison v. Poole

Citations

• 65 Tex. 376
• 1886 Tex. LEXIS 671

Syllabus

<p>1. Trespass to try title—Oral contracts for sale of land—Specific performance—On January 26, 1884, D. and P. entered into an oral agreement by which D. was to sell to P. a certain small tract of unimproved land near the town of Newton, in Newton county, and P. was to pay him therefor the sum of $30.00, as soon as P. moved on the land with his family, who were then in another county. Two days thereafter it was further orally agreed between them that D. should erect upon the land a dwelling-house, furnishing all the material therefor and completing the same by the following March, and that P. should pay him therefor the further sum of $300, but no definite time was fixed for its payment. D. completed the building within the time specified, and, on April 6, 1884, P. with his family, took possession of the premises, with the consent of D., paying the latter at the time $100. P., shortly after taking possession of the premises, erected thereon, with the knowledge and consent of D., other permanent and valuble improvements, at his own expense. On January 14, 1885, D. tendered to P. a deed to the property, in which the consideration was stated to be $330. This deed P. refused to accept, claiming that the true consideration was $30; that he was entitled to a deed with such amount expressed therein as the consideration, and that the $300 related to an entirely different transaction. D. declined to make the alteration in the deed, and in March, 1885, the balance of the $330 being still unpaid, brought suit in trespass to try title against P. for the land. P. pleaded purchase of the land from D. for $30.00, and payment of that amount, possession and occupancy thereof, with plaintiff’s consent, and valuable improvements by him in good faith, and prayed the court for a decree in his own behalf, compelling the plaintiff to make conveyance of the land in conformity with the terms of the oral agreement of January 26, 1884. Held:</p> <p>(1) That, under the foregoing facts, the co