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73 N.H. 525

63 A 787

Pattee v. Boynton

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided April 3, 1906

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1906-04-03

Wbit oe Entby. Trial by the court and verdict for the defendants. Transferred from the November term, 1905, of the superior court by Peaslee, J., upon the plaintiff’s exception to the verdict. In 1894, Emma A. W. McLeod executed a deed of trust of all her property, to be held for Nellie Boynton, payable to her at the rate of $120 a year and the balance upon the decease of the grantor, and Mrs. Boynton gave a bond to support Mrs. McLeod during the latter’s life.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently June 1928

2 state decisions

Relies on Eastman v. Batchelder · Eliot National Bank v. Beal · Bethlehem v. Annis

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1906-04-03

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Young, J.

¶1 The only question of law raised by the plaintiff’s exception is whether the death of Mrs. Boynton in the lifetime of Mrs. McLeod constituted a breach of the condition of a mortgage which provided that if Mrs. Boynton, her heirs, executors, and administrators, should comply with the condition of a bond to support Mrs. McLeod for life, the conveyance should be void. The plaintiff contends that this agreement so far partakes of the nature of a contract made with reference to the continued existence of a particular person or thing (Clarksville Land Co. v. Harriman, 68 N. H. 374; Eliot Bank v. Beal, 141 Mass. 566, 570; Taylor v. Caldwell, 3 B. & S. 826, 839) that the death of Mrs. Boynfon terminated it. It is .clear, however, that his contention is not well founded. If contracts of this kind are so far personal that the one who is to furnish the home cannot, when the contract is silent in respect to the matter, assign his interest in it to a stranger without the consent of the other party (Flanders v. Lamphear, 9 N. H. 201; Holmes v. Fisher, 13 N. H. 9; Eastman v. Batchelder, 36 N. H. 141; Bethlehem v. Annis, 40 N. H. 34; Gotham v. Gotham, 55 N. H. 440; Winch v. Bean, 62 N. H. 427), still, when the contract provides for such a contingency it is both the right and duty of the administrator to perform it; for in such •cases, upon the death of the coiitractor the duty of providing the home devolves upon his administrator and is a charge upon the ■estate. Holmes v. Fisher, 13 N. H. 9, 12; Eastman v. Batchelder, 36 N. H. 141, 150; Bethlehem v. Annis, 40 N. H. 34, 42. The death of Mrs. Boynton in the lifetime of Mrs. McLeod did not, therefore, constitute a default in the condition of the mortgage.

¶2 . Exception overruled.

All concurred.
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