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87 Mo. 257

Rogers v. Rogers

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided October 15, 1885

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1885-10-15

— Hon. James M. Davis, Judge. (1) Appellant seek's to redeem the land sued for by reason of the fraud practiced upon him by plaintiff. In such case this court will review the evidence. Gill«. Clark, 54 Mo. 418 ; Gillespie v. Stone, 70 Mo. 505. (2) Fraud is defined to be a surprise, trick, cunning, dissembling and unfairness used to cheat another.

Relies on Johnson v. Quarles · Ringo v. Richardson · Kennedy v. Estate of Kennedy

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1885-10-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently November 1935

1 federal appellate · 7 state decisions

60188518901900191019201930decided

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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Sherwood, J

¶1I. Respecting the defence set up in defendant’s answer to plaintiff’s action of ejectment, that defendant, by a previous agreement with plaintiff, was to be permitted to redeem his land bought by his own brother, the plaintiff, at a sale under a deed of trust, it is only necessary to say that the testimony on the part of the defendant is offered to establish by parol a trust in his favor in the land sold, thereby constituting plaintiff Ms trustee. The testimony would rather seem to preponderate in favor of the plaintiff ; but granting It to be equally balanced it would be far too inconclusive to warrant a decree in favor of defendant; for the rule is that in order to establish by parol a trust in lands, the testimony must be so cogent as to leave no room for reasonable doubt in the mind of the chancellor. Johnson v. Quarles, 46 Mo. 423; Forrester v. Scoville, 51 Mo. *260268; Mingo v. Richardson. 53 Mo. 385; Kennedy v. Kennedy; 57 Mo. 73.

¶2II. Relief of tlie character prayed by defendant has been granted by this court in cases of this sort, “ on the foot of the fraud,” since frauds and trusts are not within the statute of frauds. Ross v. Bates, 12Mo. 30 ; Grove’s Heirs v. Fulsome, 16 Mo. 513 ; Damschroeder v. Thias, 51 Mo. 100. But notwithstanding this it would be contrary to all precedent to grant relief based on testimony so lacking in probative force as that offered by defendant, especially when considered in connection with the countervailing testimony offered on the part of the plaintiff.

¶3Therefore, judgment affirmed.

All concur.
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