Prevo v. Walters

Citations

• 5 Scam. 35

Syllabus

<p>Error to Shelby.</p> <p>1. Real property — resulting trust. Where an estate is purchased by one man in the name of another, the trust of the legal estate results to the man who furnished the purchase money ; and he in whose name the conveyance is taken is regarded as his trustee, and holds the estate subject to the equity of the cestui qzii trust, and so would all purchasers with notice of the trust. But this doctrine does not apply to a bona fide purchaser of the legal estate, without notice of the equity.</p> <p>2. Same — secret trust: bona fide purchaser. A bona fide purchaser, without notice, from a vendor who has notice, is protected both at law and in equity, against a secret trust.</p> <p>3. Statute — construed. The statute of 1825 authorized the executor or administrator to relinquish a part, and obtain a patent for the residue of any tract of land which might have been purchased by the testator or intestate, and for which full payment might not have been made, whenever that could be done agreeably to the acts of congress. And by the same act, the executor or administrator was authorized to sell and assign a certificate of purchase of land partly paid for, when such sale might be necessary in order to pay the debts of the deceased.</p> <p>4. Fraud — innocent pzirchaser. The question of fraud is, from its nature, often one of difficult solution ; yet when fraud is clearly shown to be one of the elements of a transaction, it so taints and vititiates it, according to the principles of both law and equity, as to renderitvoid not only as to the perpetrators, but also as to those who connive at, and seek to profit by it; but to declare a conveyance to an innocent purchaser void, because of the fraud of the vendor, is against the principles both of law and equity, (a) </p>