Gable v. Hain
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Writ of error to the Common Pleas of Berks county.. The facts of this case were these: Caspar Gable, the father of the plaintiffs, sold a tract of land to William Bain, the defendant by articles of agreement: a part of the purchase money Was to be paid at a future day, when Gable was'to convey to Hain the land clear of incumbrances. Gable died before the deed was made, or purchase money tendered.
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Writ of error to the Common Pleas of Berks county.. The facts of this case were these: Caspar Gable, the father of the plaintiffs, sold a tract of land to William Bain, the defendant by articles of agreement: a part of the purchase money Was to be paid at a future day, when Gable was'to convey to Hain the land clear of incumbrances. Gable died before the deed was made, or purchase money tendered. After his death, his administrators proved the contract, and an order was made by the Common Pleas, granting them permission to make a deed to Hain.- After the purchase money became due, the deed was…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Rogers, J.
We think it clear, that time was of the essence of the contract; for it would be an unreasonable construction of the agreement, that the defendant should have an indefinite period of time for the payment of the money. To avoid this uncertainty, seems to have been the object of the compromise. The parties themselves, have, fixed a reasonable time for payment of the purchase money, which it was the object of the suit to enforce. And this it would have been competent for the jury to do, and is an ordinary operation of a court of chancery, on a…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Hollingsworth v. FrySupreme Court of the United States · 1800
- Huston v. MitchellSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1826
3Cited by1 opinion
- Hardesty v. PyleDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania · 1883