Townsend v. Vanderwerker

Citations

• 160 U.S. 171
• 16 S. Ct. 258
• 40 L. Ed. 383
• 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2355

Syllabus

<p>A court of equity in the District of Columbia may take jurisdiction of a bill brought against the administrator and heirs of an intestate, alleging a verbal agreement between the intestate and the plaintiff by which the plaintiff was to contribute one half of the cost of a tract of land and of’ a dwelling-house to be erected thereon, and the intestate, after entering on the property, was to convey to him a half - interest therein, and setting forth his performance of his part of the agreement, and her repeated recognition of her obligation to perform her part thereof, and her death without having done so after having mortgaged the property for a debt of her own, and praying for an accounting, and a decree directing payment to the plaintiff of one half of the value of the real estate and improvements, and a sale of the same; and the court may decree specific performance of so much of the. contract proved as can be enforced, and compensation to the plaintiff in damages for the deficiency.</p> <p>While the mere payment of the consideration in money in such case -is insufficient to remove the bar of the statute of frauds, such payment, accompanied by an entry of the other party into possession under the contract, is. such a part performance as will support a bill like the present one.</p> <p>The question of laches does not depend upon the fact that a certain definite time has elapsed since the cause of action accrued, but upon whether, under all the circumstances of the particular case, the plaintiff is chargeable with a want of due diligence in failing to institute proceedings earlier; and, under the peculiar circumstances of this case, the bill is not open to the defence of laches.</p> <p>The bill in this case is not open to the charge of multifariousness.</p>