Hartwell v. Black

Citations

• 48 Ill. 301

Syllabus

<p>1. Equity—specific performance of verbal contract. Where a party enters into possession of real estate, under a proposition either that he may lease or purchase it on specified terms, and he gives no notice to the owner that he has elected to purchase, and pays the sum specified as rent, at the times proposed for a lease, and requires the1 owner to make repairs of the property while thus occupied, and in other respects treats it as belonging to the landlord, and makes frequent declarations that he is only renting it, and this, too, when he knows the owner is offering the property for sale, and asks permission to occupy it in part, for a particular purpose: Held, That such a contract of purchase is not shown as will authorize a court of equity to decree a deed, and that the evidence tends to prove a léase and not a sale.</p> <p>2. Same—-proof. To entitle a party to a specific performance of a verbal agreement, the proof must clearly establish a contract, and all of its terms and conditions, and that the purchaser has relied upon and performed his part of the agreement, and that it has been so far performed as to take it out of the statute of frauds.</p> <p>3. Injunction—dissolution—damages. On the dissolution of an injunction, a decree assessing defendant’s damages will not be reversed or modified because the damages are too small, unless the decree is unsupported by evidence, or is manifestly against the evidence heard on the assessment.</p>