White v. Hermann

Citations

• 51 Ill. 243

Syllabus

<p>1. Vendor and purchaser—in contract to convey land—what sufficient description of premises. A contract for the sale of land, described the premises as “ the east \\ of N. W. i, Sec. 27, T. 38,14 E. of 3d P. M.,” omitting to state the range and the position of the land as to the base line: Held, that this description was sufficient, as by a reference to the government land surveys, it would be seen that there is no township 38, south of the base line and 14 east of the 3d P. M., and hence, it must be north of the base, and in 14 east of said meridian, which would locate the land in Cook county.</p> <p>2. Same—description must he sufficient—to enable a surveyor to locate the premises. A contract for the conveyance of lands, will not, on account of a defective description of the premises, be held invalid, where such description is sufficient to enable a surveyor to locate them.</p> <p>3. Same—question of sufficiency of description—when to be left to the jury. In an action to recover damages for a breach of such contract, where it is objected, that the instrument sued upon does not describe the lands, the question as to the sufficiency of such description is for the jury to determine, from the evidence, unless it is apparent from the instrument that a location can not be made.</p> <p>4. Same—such contracts wiU he enforced—when intention cam. he ascertained. Courts will not permit contracts of this character to fail, when from the entire instrument, and the general acts of the government, the intention of the parties can be ascertained.</p> <p>5. Evidence—contracts to convey land—in actions for breach of—how value may he shown. In an action to recover damages for the breach of a contract to convey land, the plaintiff, in order to show the value of the premises in controversy, will he permitted to prove, not only the worth of other adjacent property, at or near the date of such contract, but even the value of lands of a different quality, lying in the immediate vicinit