Page v. Vilhac

Citations

• 42 Cal. 75

Syllabus

<p>When Deed with Agreement to Sell Back Not a Mortgage.—Where Page conveyed land to Vilhac on December 12th, 1864, by deed absolute on its face, in consideration of Vilhac’s satisfying a mortgage for two thousand five hundred and twenty-two dollars, which he held against Page upon the property, and paying off a previous mortgage for five thousand two hundred and fifty-five dollars, held by a third party on the same property, and at the same time Vilhac gave Page a contract, agreeing to sell back the whole or any part of the property, on payment of eight thousand three hundred and seventy-seven dollars or a proportional part thereof, on or before November 1st, 1865, at which time the agreement was to “cease to be in force and become entirely null and void,” and it appeared that the eight thousand three hundred and seventy-seven dollars to be paid represented moneys actually paid and to be paid by Vilhac, on the property, and no part of it to be made up of interest to accrue during the interim, and that the attorney who drew the papers was directed by the parties to draw a full deed and not a mortgage, but to give Page a privilege of buying back the whole or any part, if he was able to do so by November 1st, 1865, and that both parties so understood the arrangement: held, that the transaction was one of sale and not of mortgage, and that after November 1st, 1865, without anything having been done, Page had no right or equity in the property.</p>