Lamar v. Wright

Citations

• 31 S.C. 60
• 9 S.E. 736
• 1889 S.C. LEXIS 8

Syllabus

<p>1. A resulting trust may be established by parol testimony, but no resulting trust arises where a person pays for land with his own money.</p> <p>2. Where a person acquires property for less than its value at a judicial sale, by there declaring that he is purchasing for another, the law will impress upon the property in the hands of the purchaser a constructive trust ex maleficio which may be established by parol.</p> <p>3. But if the land of L. is bid in by W. at an undervalue by reason of representations made by L. at the sale that W. is bidding for L. or his wife, Mrs. L. cannot, on that ground, complain or claim for herself a constructive trust in the property so purchased by W. in his own name.</p> <p>4. An unwritten agreement between L. and W. that W. should purchase for Mrs. L. her husband’s land, about to be sold under a decree of foreclosure, is within the statute of frauds, and therefore cannot be proved by parol.</p> <p>5. If L., acting for his wife, agreed with W. that W. should bid in a tract of land for Mrs. L., and after W. had taken the bid in his own name, L., by a written paper under seal, stipulated that the purchase money would be produced and paid by a stated time or else all claim to the land would be abandoned, L. was still acting as agent for his wife in this particular business, and she was therefore bound by his written agreement.</p> <p>6. Findings of fact by the Circuit Judge, in a chancery case, from written testimony, overruled.</p> <p>Mb. Chief Justice Simpson, dissenting.</p>