Elbert v. O'Neil
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Chester county : Of January Term 1882, No. 191. Ejectment, by Owen O’Neil against Hannah Elbert, to enforce specific performance of articles of agreement whereby the defendant agreed to sell to the plaintiff a tract of land containing about tweiitv acres. Plea, not guilty.
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Chester county : Of January Term 1882, No. 191. Ejectment, by Owen O’Neil against Hannah Elbert, to enforce specific performance of articles of agreement whereby the defendant agreed to sell to the plaintiff a tract of land containing about tweiitv acres. Plea, not guilty. On the trial, before Futhey, P. J., the plaintiff showed title in Isaac Elbert, and put in evidence his will, proved February lltli 1882, wherein he devised the premises in question to his wife, Hannah Elbert, the defendant. Also articles of agreement dated February lltli 1882, whereby…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Sterrett
*305In equitable actions of ejectment, grounded on articles of agreement for the sale of land, recovery by the vendee is not of strict right but always of judicial grace. Under our mixed system of jurisprudence, in which principles of equity are administered in common law actions, ejectment is practically a substitute for a bill in equity to enforce specific performance of the contract. The trial judge, with the aid of a jury to assist him in determining disputed questions of fact, occupies the place of a chancellor and should never sanction a verdict, the effect of which would be specific…
2Cases cited1 opinion
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