Wood v. Thornly

Citations

• 58 Ill. 464

Syllabus

<p>1. Attorney and client—privileged communications. Where a party consults.with an attorney as his legal advisor in regard to matters out of which litigation afterwards arises, communications thus made to the attorney are inadmissible as evidence against the party seeking the advice. The rule is, that such communications are the privilege of the client, and not of the attorney.</p> <p>2. Statute op prauds—pmvl sale of land—part performance by the purchaser. The owner of a farm resided thereon with his two sons, the latter having remained with their father and assisted in the cultivation of the farm, and making valuable improvements thereon, for some years after their majority. While so in the occupancy of the farm, the father made a parol agreement with his sons, to convej' a certain portion of it to them. The conveyance was never made, but soon after the parol promise the father refused to perform it. No labor was done on the farm by the sons after the agreement, beyond what they were fully compensated for by the rents and profits, nor did they make any improvements thereon after that time except such as ordinary husbandry required, and even those were made with the knowledge that the father had refused to execute the agreement. The consideration for the agreement was the past services of the sons, and an understanding that they would furnish their father with a home during his life, and furnish him a horse to ride, and that the sons would purchase the personal property on the farm. It was held, upon bill filed for a specific performance, that there was no such partial performance on the part of the sons as would take the case out of the statute of frauds.</p> <p>3. The possession of the sons after the parol promise to convey could only be referred to their former possession, and could not therefore be invoked to relieve the case from the operation of the statute of frauds.</p> <p>4. It is not enough that a party seeking to enforce a parol agreement to convey, was