Rees v. Spruance

Citations

• 45 Ill. 308

Syllabus

<p>1. Brokers—contract. If the owner of property engages a broker to assist him in making a sale thereof, and stipulates that no commissions shall he paid unless a certain price is procured, such contract would of course be the measure of the rights and obligations of the parties. If the broker does not find a purchaser who will give the price fixed, he does not earn his commissions. If he does find one thus willing, he would be entitled to his commissions, and the owner of the property could not defeat his claim hy voluntarily selling to the purchaser thus found, at a less price..</p> <p>2. But a broker who has acted under such a contract must, in order to maintain an action for his commissions, prove that he had found a purchaser ready to give the required price.</p> <p>3. If the owner of property employs a broker to make sale, or to find a purchaser, without any special agreement as to commissions, although he may name the price at which the property is to he sold, and authorizes its sale only at that price, yet if the broker finds a purchaser to whom the owner decides to sell at a less price, the broker would undoubtedly be entitled to compensation for the services rendered.</p>