In re Nicholls

Citations

• 190 Pa. 308
• 42 A. 692
• 1899 Pa. LEXIS 1021

Syllabus

<p>Deed — Lost deed — Evidence—Delivery.</p> <p>On a petition to restore a deed alleged to have been given by a father to a son, and subsequently lost, the evidence must be clear and satisfactory of not only the existence of the deed, but also of the fact that it was delivered ; and if the son merely shows from the declarations of his father and other evidence that such a deed existed, but utterly fails to prove a delivery, his petition will be dismissed.</p> <p>There is no delivery of a deed from father to son and a leaving thereof in the father’s hands for safe-keeping merely, where the father shows the son the deed, and the latter, after taking it in his hands and looking at it, hands it back, and tells his father to keep it and what he had, as long as be lived, to which the father replied that he would do just as the son said.</p> <p>In decreeing the reproduction of a lost deed we are virtually establishing title to land by parol and the proofs should therefore be as explicit as in the case of the specific enforcement of a parol sale under the statute of frauds and perjuries. Per Archbald, P. J.</p>