Hovey v. Howard

Citations

• 177 Pa. 323
• 35 A. 670
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 986

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and vendee — Mistake—Equity—Rescission of contract.</p> <p>On a bill in equity for the rescission of a contract for the sale of land, the master and the court below on sufficient evidence found as a fact that the plaintiff had agreed orally to sell to H., one of the defendants, a lot of ground with streets laid down upon a plan, excepting from the same four lots already sold which had acquired easements on the streets. A clerk by direction of the plaintiff gave a receipt to H. for the portion of the purchase money paid, in which receipt the land was described in such a way as to include all of the land on the plan, without reference to the streets or the lots sold. Some months after the date of the receipt and, as plaintiff alleged, as soon as he discovered the mistake, he notified H., and subsequently tendered him a deed drawn in accordance with the oral contract, found by the master to be the real contract between the parties. The deed was refused. Subsequently H. conveyed his interest in the contract to R., the other defendant. Plaintiff informed R. that he elected to rescind the contract of sale, and tendered to R. the portion of the purchase money paid. Held, that plaintiff was entitled to a decree rescinding the contract.</p>