Houghton v. Pattee
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Bell in Equity, for the redemption of mortgaged land. Facts found by a referee. The defendants gave B. their note for $4,000, part of the price of land conveyed by B. to H., and H. gave the defendants a bond of $4,000, to be void if H. should expend $40,000 in building a hotel upon the land within a certain time, and a mortgage of the land to secure the bond. The time expired several years ago, and H. has not performed any considerable part of the condition of the bond.
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Bell in Equity, for the redemption of mortgaged land. Facts found by a referee. The defendants gave B. their note for $4,000, part of the price of land conveyed by B. to H., and H. gave the defendants a bond of $4,000, to be void if H. should expend $40,000 in building a hotel upon the land within a certain time, and a mortgage of the land to secure the bond. The time expired several years ago, and H. has not performed any considerable part of the condition of the bond. The note, bond, mortgage, and other writings, were parts of one transaction. The amount due on the mortgage is in…
1Opinion of the CourtDoe, C. J.
If the intention of the parties, proved by competent evidence, was that the amount of the bond was liquidated damages, it was liquidated damages ; if they intended it to be a penalty, it was a penalty. The bond, and other contemporaneous writings of the parties, parts of the same transaction, and relating to the same subject-matter, are the evidence of their intention. While the construction of the bond is matter of law for the court, and not matter of fact for the referee, it is to be determined, like a question of fact, by the weight of the competent evidence contained in the bond and other…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Noyes v. . PhillipsNew York Court of Appeals · 1875
3Cited by10 opinions
- Opinion of the JusticesSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1891
- State v. CorronSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1905
- Brown v. BartlettSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1879
- Morse v. MorseSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1878
- Upton v. HosmerSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1900
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