Van Rensselaer v. Hays
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court in the third district. The action was commenced in May, 1855, and was brought to recover rent arising upon a conveyance in fee, alleged to be in arrear for sixteen years to the 1st day of January, 1855. The ease was tried before Mr. Justice William F. Allen, without a jury, in January, 1857. The plaintiff gave in evidence an indenture, dated February 15, 1796, by which Stephen Van Rensselaer, the elder, the father of the…
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Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court in the third district. The action was commenced in May, 1855, and was brought to recover rent arising upon a conveyance in fee, alleged to be in arrear for sixteen years to the 1st day of January, 1855. The ease was tried before Mr. Justice William F. Allen, without a jury, in January, 1857. The plaintiff gave in evidence an indenture, dated February 15, 1796, by which Stephen Van Rensselaer, the elder, the father of the complainant, in consideration of five shillings, lawful money, and of the yearly rents, covenants, reservations and conditions…
1Opinion of the CourtBy the Court. Denio, J.
The defendant’s position is, that the covenant for the payment of the rent is, in law, personal between the grantor and grantee, or what is sometimes called in the books a covenant in gross, and, consequently, that after the death of the original parties, no action to recover rent can be maintained in favor of or against any persons except their respective executors or administrators. As the law contemplates that the estates of deceased persons shall be speedily settled, and in the natural course of things the personal representatives of a man disappear with the generation to which they…
2Cases cited17 opinions
- Bogardus v. Trinity ChurchNew York Court of Chancery · 1833
- King v. RootCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1829
- Demarest v. WillardNew York Supreme Court · 1828
- Childs v. ClarkNew York Court of Chancery · 1848
- Ingersoll v. SergeantSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1836
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