Turney v. McKown

Citations

• 242 Pa. 565
• 89 A. 797
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 692

Syllabus

<p>Beal property — Trusts ex maleficio — Parol promises to convey— Statute of Frauds — Act of April 22,1856, P. L. 582.</p> <p>1. While it is true that trusts ex maleficio arise by implication or construction of law and are excepted out of the operation of the Statute of Frauds, no rule is better established than that a trust ex maleficio can arise only at the inception of the title from fraud practiced in obtaining the title.</p> <p>2. A trust ex maleficio may not be created by subsequent declarations in effect acknowledging the trust. Where the transaction implies nothing more than the breach of a parol agreement equity will not decree a trust.</p> <p>3. In an action of ejectment where plaintiff claimed title under the will of a devisee who had, together with her husband, who was her devisor, conveyed the land in suit to defendant by deed absolute, and where plaintiff introduced evidence to show that the land had been conveyed to defendant with the' understanding that the land was to be reconveyed upon payment by the husband grantor of a debt to be contracted by him with a third person, but that defendant had refused subsequently to reeonvey the land though the debt had been paid, the court made no error in entering judgment for defendant n. o. v., in the absence of evidence to show any fraud in the procurement of the conveyance to defendant. Such evidence showed no more than the breach of a parol agreement to reconvey the land in suit.</p>