specific performance — clear title required
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 31 U.S. 389 - William Watts v. William Waddle · 1832Most cited · 60 citing opinions
The principle is too well settled to require any reference to authority in support of it, that a vendor to entitle himself to a specific execution of the contract must be able to make a clear title. No court of chancery will force a doubtful title on the vendee; and it is always necessary that the vendor should not only show a proper degree of vigilance on his part, but that in all things he had complied, or was able to comply, with the contract when he seeks a specific execution of it.
How often courts cite the case defining “specific performance — clear title required”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “specific performance — clear title required” — 58 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.