Hess v. Rankin

Citations

• 78 Va. 175
• 1883 Va. LEXIS 25

Syllabus

<p>Equitable Jurisdiction and Relief- Trust estate for wife and children-Case at bar.-In 1862 land was conveyed to J B H in trust for his wife and their children. Deed was lost and not recorded, but its contents were established. In 1873 J B H absconded. In 1873 same grantors conveyed same land to the wife, reciting deed of 1862, and she sold the land to T, and in 1878 as absolute owner sued T for specific performance. T defended on ground of defect of her title, but sale was ordered and made to R, and L, sheriff, ordered to deliver possession. T obtained injunction, but it was dissolved. Then the children, who had never been parties to the proceedings, brought their bill, set up their rights under the lost deed, and obtained an injunction; but the injunction was dissolved, and their bill dismissed on appeal.</p> <p>Held :</p> <p>1. The lost deed of 1862, though never recorded, was binding between the parties thereto, and all the parties to these suits (they having had actual notice of same), and secured the children’s rights in the land.</p> <p>2. The wife had no power to revoke the deed of 1862, and, as absolute owner, to sell the land.</p> <p>3. T was not compellable to receive a defective title, and specific performance of the sale to him should not have been decreed.</p> <p>4. The sale to R should have been rescinded, a trustee appointed to-hold the land for the benefit of the wife and her children, and the parties put in statu quo.</p>