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69 N.H. 470

43 A 183

Smith v. Phillips

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided December 5, 1898

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1898-12-05

Assumpsit. Pacts found by a referee. July 1, 1893, one Bradley executed to the defendants a lease of a tract of land in Concord for the term of five years, with a right of renewal at the expiration of the term. Upon a part of this tract a building or mill for polishing granite had been erected and was owned by the State Capital Polishing Works.

Relies on Luey v. Bundy · Emery v. Smith · Lane v. Shackford

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1898-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently April 1997

2 federal appellate · 6 state decisions

3018981900191019201930194019501960197019801990decided

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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Parsons, J.

¶1 A parol agreement to lease land for a term of years is a contract to convey an interest in lands within the statute of frauds (P. S., c. 187, s. 12; Ib., c. 215, s. 1; Webster v. Blodgett, 59 N. H. 120), and no action at law can be maintained upon it. P. 8., c. 215, s. 1; Lane v. Shackford, 5 N. H. 130, 133; Ayer v. Hawkes, 11 N. H. 148, 150; Ham v. Goodrich, 33 N. H. 32, 35; S. C., 37 N. H. 185; Luey v. Bundy, 9 N. H. 298; Seavey v. Drake, 62 N. H. 393, 394. Part performance of such an agreement does not take the case out of the statute so as to authorize the recovery of damages in an action at law for a breach of the oral contract. Webster v. Blodgett, Lane v. Shackford, Ayer v. Hawkes, supra; Emery v. Smith, 46 N. H. 151, 155; Kidder v. Hunt, 1 Pick. 328; Thompson v. Gould, 20 Pick. 134, 138; Adams v. Townshend, 1 Met. 483; Hibbard v. Whitney, 13 Vt. 21, 24; Hawley v. Moody, 24 Vt. 603, 605; Buck v. Pickwell, 27 Vt. 157, 166, 167; Abbott v. Draper, 4 Denio 51, 53; Eaton v. Whitaker, 18 Conn. 222, 231; Chit. Cont. (10th Am. ed.) 329; 2 Par. Cont. (4th ed.) *340; Bro. St. Pr. (5th ed.), s. 451. It is not necessary to inquire whether in equity the plaintiff might have had a decree for a specific performance of the oral contract to lease. He has made no claim to such relief, and by removing the building and yielding his possession has abandoned such equitable title as he had as lessee and put himself into a position where such a decree would afford him no relief. No claim is made except upon the contract, and the case discloses no grounds upon which any action can be maintained. Cocheco Aqueduct Association v. Railroad, 59 N. H. 312; Lane v. Shackford, Ham v. Goodrich, Emery v. Smith, supra; Crawford v. Parsons, 18 N. H. 293, 294; Miller v. Tobie, 41 N. H. 84. The plaintiff is entitled to judgment for $9.79.

¶2 Case discharged.

All concurred.
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