Sloan v. Rose

Citations

• 101 Va. 151
• 43 S.E. 329
• 1903 Va. LEXIS 12

Syllabus

<p>1. Specific Performance—Title of Vendor—Case in Judgment.—Specific performance will not be decreed on the application of a vendor unless his ability to make such title as he agreed to make be unquestionable. In a contract for the purchase of a fee, if no encumbrance be communicated to the purchaser or be known to him, he is entitled to an unencumbered title, and a court of equity will not decree specific performance, unless the vendor is able to do all that it is incumbent on him to do. The objection is not confined to doubtful tities. It applies to encumbrances of every description which may in any manner embarrass the purchaser in the full and quiet enjoyment of his purchase. In the case in judgment these requirements have been fully met by the vendor, who promptly removed every difficulty suggested.</p> <p>2. Evidence—Written Contract—Parol Evidence—Fraud.—In a suit for specific performance of a contract for the sale of real estate, when the defence is such fraudulent conduct on the part of the vendor as disentitles him to the relief sought, parol evidence explanatory of such conduct and repelling the fraud charged is admissible. This is not a variation of the written contract sought to be enforced.</p>