Conaway v. Sweeney
West Virginia Supreme Court
Johnson, President, furnishes the following statement of the case: This'is a suit in chancery to compel the specific performance by a principal of a contract for the sale of real estate made by his agent.
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Johnson, President, furnishes the following statement of the case: This'is a suit in chancery to compel the specific performance by a principal of a contract for the sale of real estate made by his agent. The plaintiffs, Charles I. Conaway and Thomas Smith,-filed their hill in the circuit court of Tyler county in October, 1880, in which they alleged that they purchased from the defendant, James Sweeney, through bis agent, Stealey, who was in writing duly authorized to malee such sale, a certain tract of land in said county, which by survey afterward made measured one hundred and eighty acres…
1Opinion of the Court
Johnson President:
Is this a case in which the contract made by the agent by the authority of the principal should be specifically performed? A person owning land may by parol authorize *649another to make a contract for the sale thereof; and if a contract be made under such authority, the owner of the land may be charged by virtue of the contract, provided there be a memorandum thereof in writing signed by the person authorized to make it. The signing by the agent of his own name is sufficient. The statute does not make it indispensable, that he should sign the name of the party to be charged…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Abbott v. L'HommedieuWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1877
- Bradford v. McConihayWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1879
3Cited by16 opinions
- Armstrong v. Maryland Coal Co.West Virginia Supreme Court · 1910
- McKinley v. LynchWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1905
- Ober v. StephensWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1903
- Rollyson v. BournWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1919
- West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co. v. CooperWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1921
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