Windett v. Hurlbut

Citations

• 115 Ill. 403
• 5 N.E. 589

Syllabus

<p>1. Forcible detainer—by purchaser under a trust deed—evidence to show there was no sale. In an action of forcible entry and detainer, brought under the sixth clause of section 2, chapter 57, of the Eevised Statutes of 1874, giving that remedy in favor of a purchaser under a deed of trust, the plaintiff' gave in evidence, on the trial, the deed of trust and the deed by the trustee to himself. The defendant offered parol evidence to prove that the trustee, in fact, made no sale, that the plaintiff paid nothing for the property, and that it was worth $30,000, and constituted defendant’s homestead, which the court refused to hear: Held,, that the ruling was clearly right.</p> <p>2. In an action at law, a trustee’s deed for land made under a power of sale in a trust deed, is conclusive evidence of the sale under the power, and it can not, in a court of law, be contradicted, and proved to-have been executed in violation of law, and therefore fraudulent and void.</p> <p>3. Fraud—remedy—impeachment of deed—when at law, and when in equity, only. In an action at law, fraud in the execution of a deed may be given in evidence, as that, through misreading, or the substitution of one paper for another, or by other device and trickery, the grantor was induced to seal it, believing, at the time, he was sealing something else, or the deed may be shown to be a forgery.</p> <p>4. But where a person voluntarily and knowingly signs a deed, although he do so in violation of his duty and of the law, or be induced thereto by the fraudulent contrivances of others, yet if it be such upon its face as will convey title, it can only be impeached and set aside, and parol evidence be received for that purpose, in a court of equity. •</p> <p>5. Error—evidence that works no injury. Where a plaintiff has made out his case by proper evidence, and all the evidence offered to show a defence is properly excluded, the admission of other irrelevant evidence by the plaintiff which neither strengthens no