Hopkins v. Snedaker

Citations

• 71 Ill. 449

Syllabus

<p>1. Rescission oe contract—when complete rescission rendered impossible by act of defrauding party, apa/rtial rescission may be decreed. Where a party, by false and fraudulent representations as to the character and quality of his land, induces another to exchange other lands for it, and then conveys a portion of the land thus obtained to an innocent purchaser, so that it is out of Ills power to re-convey it, and thus wholly rescind the contract, it is competent for a court of equity to decree a partial rescission, and to require the party in fault to pay to the oilier, in money, the price at which the land taken by him ivas estimated in the exchange, and take a re-conveyance of the same, and to make the amount of money so decreed to be paid a lien upon that portion of the land conveyed to the defrauding party which he still holds.</p> <p>2. Same—of the diligence required, when asked for on the ground of fraud. Where a contract Avas made in this State for the exchange of lands in this State for land in Missouri, in December, 1868, and, in the following spring, the owner of the Illinois land learned that iands in that part of Missouri where the land taken by him in exchange was situated were not of much value, but learned nothing about his land in particular until in February, 1870, when he went to see it, and, on the •</p> <p>28th of February, 1870, filed a bill to rescind the contract, on the ground of false and fraudulent representations as to the quality and character of the Missouri land: Held, that there was reasonable diligence used for the discovery of the fraud, and that suit was brought within a reasonable time after its discovery.</p> <p>3. Chancery practice—iohat relief may be granted under a general prayer. Where a bill contains a prayer for general relief, and also a prayer for specific relief, the complainant may have other specific relief, provided it be consistent with the case made by the bill and with the proof, although it differs from that spec