Purinton v. Northern Illinois Railroad

Citations

• 46 Ill. 297

Syllabus

<p>1. Parol evidence—to vary a contract. A written contractbetween partiesmust speak for itself. It cannot be enlarged or diminished in its terms, by parol evidence. A contract cannot rest partly in writing and partly in parol.</p> <p>2. Conveyances—ambiguity. Where the premises in a deed are so described that they cannot be identified, the conveyance is void.</p> <p>3. But where the grantee has gone into possession, and the parties have given a construction to their contract, by the manner in which they have executed it, the objection of uncertainty would be removed.</p> <p>4. If a vendor gives a bond for a deed for ten acres, part of one hundred and sixty acres, without any other designation of the particular portion, such a contract would be inoperative for want of certainty, nor could the purchaser, or a stranger to the contract, do any act by which the uncertainty could be aided or removed.</p> <p>6. Biit if the vendor and vendee were to select the number of acres, and separate them from the remainder, and the purchaser were permitted to enter into the same, malee improvements thereon, and to hold possession, the contract would thereby be so far executed as to remove the uncertainty, and a court of equity would compel the execution of a deed.</p>