Voiers v. Atkins Bros.

Citations

• 113 La. 303
• 36 So. 974
• 1903 La. LEXIS 585

Syllabus

<p>VENDOR AND PURCHASER — SALE—NOTARIAL ACT — DESTRUCTION — REINVESTMENT OE TITLE-POSSESSOR IN BAD FAITH — IMPROVEMENTS— EXPENSES.</p> <p>1.Where A. sells B. certain property by notarial act, which B. resells to A. by notarial act, the last vendor cannot, by not recording the last act of sale, and destroying it, reinvest himself in the ownership of the property by means of parol evidence that the second vendee had consented verbally to a rescission of the sale to her.</p> <p>2.The judgment of the district court in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff, a married woman, is reversed on the ground that the account upon which the defendant declared was due by the husband, and not the wife.</p> <p>On Rehearing.</p> <p>3. The possessor in bad faith is entitled to recover from the owner of the soil only for those improvements of which the owner may order the removal. He cannot recover for ditching, clearing land, and other improvements inseparable from the soil. It makes no difference how much the value of the land has been enhanced thereby. In such a case the principle by which one man is not permitted to enrich himself at the expense of another has no application.</p> <p>4. This does not apply to expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, and does not prevent a possessor in bad faith from offsetting the claim of the owner against him for fruits and revenues, by a claim on his part for expenses incurred in useful improvements upon the property to the extent that the owner is benefited thereby.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>