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47 Ala. 714

Arrington v. Porter

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided January 15, 1872

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1872-01-15

Tried before Hon. J'ohn D. Cunningham. On the 10th day of December, 1866, appellant sold Thos. R. Stacey a plantation in Montgomery county. Stacey, with one Y. R. Porter, in payment of said plantation, executed three written instruments, of like tenor with the one below, with the exceptipn of the dates, and secured these obligations by a mortgage on the land, which Arrington had conveyed to him in fee simple.

Relies on Firemen's Insurance v. McMillan · Brewer v. Brewer · Williamson v. Howell

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1872-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently May 1953

2 federal appellate · 1 district · 9 state decisions

40187218801890190019101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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B. E. SAEEOUD, J.

¶1The material question at issue in this case is, whether a verbal contract rescinding a sale of land, the purchase-money not having been paid, executed by the vendor receiving possession of the land and using* it as his own, is within the statute of frauds.

¶2The rescission of a sale of land which has been completed, is virtually a sale of the land by the vendee to the vendor. Possession by the purchaser with the consent of the vendor, under a parol contract of sale, takes the case out of the statute of frauds, but the possession must be under the contract. Danforth v. Laney, 28 Ala. 274. A purchaser who has paid the pmchase-money, and has obtained possession under a parol contract, is entitled to a specific execution of the contract. Brewer v. Brewer & Logan, 19 Ala. 481. If the proof establishes that Arrington received possession of the land with the consent of Stacey, under a parol contract rescinding the former sale, the purchase-money not having been paid by Stacey, then there was only needed the proper conveyance to complete the sale. This, either party could enforce. The purchase-, money was virtually paid, and the debt sued for in this case was extinguished.

¶3It was not stated with what view the plaintiff, Arrington, offered in evidence the record of his chancery suit against Stacey. We presume it was intended to show an adjudication of the question whether there had been a rescission of their contract. Porter was not a party to that suit, and *722the .decree was pro. confesso. .Stacey had become bankrupt, and was doubtless indifferent to the result of the chancery proceeding. It ‘sought only to appropriate the land to the payment of the debt, and that had already been done. Li some instances, a judgment against the principal is made conclusive upon his sureties by statute, as in the cases of Williamson v. Howell, 4 Ala. 693, and McClure v. Colclough, 5 Ala. 65. The general rule, however, is, that a recovery against the principal can not be used as evidence to charge the surety, unless his contract binds him to the result of legal proceedings against his principal. When the judgment is binding on the surety at all, it is conclusive. He is either a party, or privy, or a stranger. — Fireman’s Ins. Co. v. McMillan, 29 Ala. 147. There was no error in excluding the record of the chancery suit.

¶4There is no error in the action of the court to which the appellant has a right to object.

¶5The judgment is affirmed.

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