Hartley v. Roffe

Citations

• 12 W. Va. 401
• 1878 W. Va. LEXIS 33

Syllabus

<p>1. A sale made by a commissioner under a decree of a court of equity is not an absolute sale, and does not become absolute, until it is confirmed by the court.</p> <p>2. A greatly inadequate price is generally, when clearly shown, sufficient cause to set aside such sale.</p> <p>3. Whether the court will confirm a sale made by a commissioner under its decree, must in a great measure depend upon the circumstances of each case.</p> <p>4. It is difficult to lay down any rule applicable to all cases; nor is it possible to specify all grounds, which will justify the court in withholding its approval.</p> <p>5. In such a case, if there is reason to believe, that fraud or mistake has been committed to the detriment of the owner or purchaser, or that the officer conducting the sale has been guilty of any wrong or breach of duty, to the injury of the parties interested, the court mil withhold a confirmation of the sale.</p> <p>6. A court of equity, acting upon a report of sale, does not exercise an arbitrary, but a sound legal discretion, in the interests of fairness and prudence, and with a great regard to the rights of all concerned.</p> <p>7. An exception to a report of sale of land by a commissioner, appointed by decree of a court of equity in these words: 2d. “For other reasons apparent on the face of said report,” is too general. An exception to the report of such commissioner “for defects on the face of the report” ought to be so specific, as to direct the mind of the court and the parties in interest to the particular defect or omission, upon which the exception relies, unless the report be so substantially defective on its face, as to require the court of its own motion, in the absence of exceptions, to set aside the report.</p> <p>8. When a creditor’s bill is brought to sell lands of the debtor, and the defendant fails to answer or plead, and decrees in the cause are made and entered on bill taken for confessed, but the defendant appears and files exceptions to t