Pickering v. Pickering
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
In Equity. On the 15th day of February, 1858, the plaintiff filed in this court his bill, asking for the specific performance of the defendant’s contract, entered into on the 10th day of February, 1848, whereby -he agreed to convey to the plaintiff his reversionary interest in his mother’s dower in his late father’s homestead, situate in Newington, in this county, upon the plaintiff’s paying him therefor the sum at which the same should be appraised by three referees named…
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In Equity. On the 15th day of February, 1858, the plaintiff filed in this court his bill, asking for the specific performance of the defendant’s contract, entered into on the 10th day of February, 1848, whereby -he agreed to convey to the plaintiff his reversionary interest in his mother’s dower in his late father’s homestead, situate in Newington, in this county, upon the plaintiff’s paying him therefor the sum at which the same should be appraised by three referees named in the contract. The referees appraised the defendant’s interest in the reversion at $144, and made their award on the…
1Opinion of the CourtFoweeb, J.
The plaintiff seeks to enforce the specific performance of the defendant’s contract to convey a reversionary interest in land, after the lapse of nearly ten years, and after the reversion of dower, as it existed at the date of the contract, has been converted, by the death of the widow, into a present estate in fee. Aware of the well established rule of equity, that if a plaintiff has been guilty of gross laches, or if he applies for relief after a long lapse of time, unexplained, by equitable circumstances, his bill must be dismissed, since courts of equity do not, any more than courts of…
2Cases cited12 opinions
- Colson v. ThompsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1817
- Seymour v. DelanceyNew York Court of Chancery · 1822
- Tobey v. County of BristolU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts · 1845
- De Cordova v. Smith's Adm'xTexas Supreme Court · 1852
- Clarke v. Rochester, Lockport & Niagara Falls RailroadNew York Supreme Court · 1854
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