Thurber v. Meves

Citations

• 119 Cal. 35
• 50 P. 1063
• 1897 Cal. LEXIS 840

Syllabus

<p>Specific Performance—Mutuality of Remedy.—While it is a general rule that mutuality oí remedy is essential to authorize the specific performance of a contract, this rule does not require that such mutuality shall exist in all cases at the inception of the transaction.</p> <p>Id.—Contract for Personal Services.—A contract for the conveyance of land, in consideration of personal services to be performed by the vendee, may be specifically enforced at the instance of the latter, after such services have been fully or substantially performed.</p> <p>Id.—Contract for Sale as Security for Loan—Equitable Mortgage— Time of Payment.—Where, after the making of a contract for the sale of land, in consideration of personal services to be performed by the vendee, the latter borrows a sum of money from the vendor, to be repaid at a particular date, and to secure the payment thereof agrees that the contract for sale should be held as security for the payment of the loan, and that the right to the conveyance should be dependent upon the payment thereof at the times and in the manner mentioned in the contract of loan, in addition to the other conditions precedent to the conveyance, such second agreement is in the nature of a mere equitable mortgage to secure the payment of the loan, and as its purpose could not be defeated by a mere failure to pay in accordance with its terms, a failure to pay on the day specified would not defeat the vendee’s right to a specific performance of the contract for sale.</p>