Hamilton v. Doolittle

Citations

• 37 Ill. 473

Syllabus

<p>1. Witness—competency — interest. A grantor in a deed containing covenants for title, is not a competent witness on behalf of the plaintiff in ejectment, who relies upon the deed, to prove its execution. He has a disqualifying interest in the result of the suit.</p> <p>2. In such a case, the grantor would not be called against his interest; it would be to his interest to maintain the title which he had covenanted to make good.</p> <p>3. Such a grantor is, for the same reason, incompetent to prove that he gave notice to a subsequent purchaser that he had already sold and conveyed the land to another person.</p> <p>4. Covenants nob. title—where title is defeated by one subsequently accruing. Where a party has conveyed land by deted with covenants for title, his liability upon his covenants will not necessarily cease to exist upon the failure of the title resulting from one subsequently accruing. Such would, no doubt, be the case, if the title failed from the acts or omissions of the grantee or other parties ; but it could not be so where the title has failed by the action of the grantor himself, as in a subsequent sale and conveyance of the land whereby the title under a prior unrecorded deed would be defeated.</p> <p>5. Quit claim deeds — what will pass thereby. While a quit claim deed is as eifectual to pass title as a deed of bargain and sale, still, like all other contracts, it must be expounded and enforced according to the intention of the parties, so as to pass only such land as would be properly embraced in the language used.</p> <p>6. Same — as to prior unrecorded deeds. If the words used in the quit claim deed indicate an intention on the part of the grantor to pass only such land as he owns at the time of its execution, then lands embraced in a prior valid deed will be held to be reserved from its operation, and will not pass thereby, although the prior deed remains unrecorded.</p> <p>7. Same-—• application of the rule in this case. In this case, the wor