Glover v. Farr

Citations

• 23 S.C. 480
• 1885 S.C. LEXIS 126

Syllabus

<p>1. At a sale for partition of an intestate’s estate, A purchased a tract of land, and a few days afterwards B purchased an adjoining tract of the same estate. A then sold to 0, who, finding that B was in possession of, and claimed under his deed, a strip of land which C claimed to be covered by the deed to A and by A’s deed to him, instituted an action, stating these facts in his complaint, and demanded judgment that the mistake in B’s deed bo corrected, that the boundary line be properly designated, and that B be required to surrender to C the possession of the disputed strip of land. Held, that this was a plain action at law for the recovery of real property, and that the court below erred iñ treating it as a case in chancery.</p> <p>2. The principle that the Court of Equity has the right to put a purchaser into possession of land sold under its orders, does not apply where dispute arises between one purchaser and the vendee of another purchaser, at the same sale, as to the boundaries of their respective purchases.</p> <p>3. Nor could the plaintiff, holding the older deed, invoke the interposition of a Court of Equity upon the ground that there was a mistake in the deed made to defendant by the officer of the court; he has a plain and adequate remedy at law, to wit, an action for the recovery of the land.</p> <p>4. As the matters alleged in the complaint make out such an action, the complaint should not be dismissed, although it demands only equitable relief. The character of an action is not determined by the relief demanded ; it depends upon the facts alleged.</p> <p>5. The court below having erred in treating this action at law as a case in chancery, the cause was remanded to the Circuit Court for a trial by jury.</p> <p>6. Petition for rehearing rfefused.</p>