Farnsworth v. Duffner

Citations

• 142 U.S. 43
• 12 S. Ct. 164
• 35 L. Ed. 931
• 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2567

Syllabus

<p>In a suit in equity for the rescission of a contract of purchase, and to recover the moneys paid thereon on the gróund that it was induced by the false and fraudulent representations of the vendor, if the means of knowledge respecting the matters falsely represented are equally open to purchaser and vendor, the former is charged With knowledge of all that by the use of such means he could have ascertained: and a fortiori he is precluded from rescinding the contract and from recovery of the consideration money if it appears that he availed himself of those means, and made investigations, and relied upon the evidences they furnished, and not upon the representations of the vendor.</p> <p>Statements by a vendor of real estate to the vendee, (made during the negotiations for the sale,) as to his own social and political position and religious associations, are held, even if false, not to be fraudulent, so as to work a rescission of the contract of sale.</p> <p>It is no ground for rescinding such a contract that the agents of the vendors, who had received the full purchase money agreed upon, misappropriated a part of it.</p>