Vanderlin v. Hovis

Citations

• 152 Pa. 11
• 25 A. 232
• 1892 Pa. LEXIS 1158

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Oil lease — Parol evidence to explain written instrument — New lease given to perfect title under old.</p> <p>An oil lease, executed July 1, 1884, provided that the lessee should drill a well within thirty days from the execution of the lease, or in default thereof pay to the lessee $200 per annum until work was commenced. In 1890, the lessor brought suit against the lessee to recover four years’ payments of $200 each. At the trial the lessor offered in evidence a lease dated July 1, 1884, directly from himself to defendant, who was the assignee of the other lease. The second lease contained the same covenant as the first lease as to the commencement of operations within thirty days, and the payment of the annual rental in case of default. Plaintiff claimed that although the lease was dated July 1, 1884, it was in fact executed on April 9, 1886, and that as defendant had not drilled any well within thirty days of the latter date, plaintiff was entitled to recover.</p> <p>Defendant thereupon offered to show that the second lease was a mere substitute for the first, made by advice of counsel, so as to enable defendant to borrow money on a mortgage; that defendant’s title was somewhat confused under the various assignments of the interests of the original lessees; that defendant requested plaintiff to make a new lease directly to himself, and upon the same terms as contained in the former lease, in order that a more satisfactory mortgage could be executed to the person lending the money; that plaintiff agreed to make the lease as requested; that the terms of the first lease had been fully complied with, and that plaintiff had never demanded rent until the present suit was brought. The court rejected all of defendant’s offers.</p> <p>Held to be error. The offers were relevant as they tended to show the circumstances and reasons for the execution of the new lease, that it was given for the purpose of confirming and perfecting defendant’