Opinion ID: 86457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The other ground of avoidance is failure of consideration.

Text: The answer alleges, that, at the public sale by the United States, lot No. 7 was purchased by defendant himself, and therefore the vendor is unable to comply with his contract by making him a title, and, moreover, that Whitesides has become the purchaser of lot No. 194, and therefore he, Bush, was without title to it. This defence seems founded on an entire mistake or ignorance of the law; as the facts alleged lead to a directly contrary conclusion, and show that the defendant has a complete legal title. If Whitesides sold to him with covenant of warranty, and afterwards purchased the legal title, as the answer asserts, with regard to lot No. 194, then is the title vested in Bush, the vendee, by estoppel, and no further conveyance is necessary. As to lot No. 7, Bush, having obtained possession under Whitesides, cannot, by the purchase of an outstanding title, defeat the claim of his vendor. It is a well-established rule of equity, that if a vendee buys up a better title than that of the vendor, and the vendor was guilty of no fraud, he can only be compelled to refund to the vendee the amount of money paid for the better title. Equity treats the purchaser as a trustee for his vendor, because he holds under him; and acts done to perfect the title by the former, when in possession of the land, inure to the benefit of him under whom the possession was obtained, and through whom a knowledge of a defect of title was obtained. The vendor and vendee stand in the relation of landlord and tenant; the vendee cannot disavow the vendor's title. (See Galloway v. Findlay, 12 Peters, 295, and cases there cited.) In the present case, the vendee has bought in, for twenty dollars, the legal title to a property worth more than two thousand, the possession of which he received from his vendor; and not only so, but, contrary to good faith and fair dealing, he has interfered to overbid his vendor, who was using every endeavour to purchase the title for the use of his vendee, in fulfilment of his own covenants. The appellant has paid no more (or, if more, so little as to be unworthy of notice) than he agreed to pay for the purpose of getting the legal title. He has got a good title to the property, and ought in justice and equity to pay for it the full consideration which he has covenanted to pay. The decree of the Supreme Court of Iowa must therefore be affirmed, with costs, with leave to the appellees to sell the mortgaged property in the mode prescribed by law, unless the appellant shall pay the amount of said decree, with interest thereon and the costs, within sixty days from the filing of the record in this case in the proper court of the State of Iowa. Order. This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Supreme Court of the Territory of Iowa, and was argued by counsel. On consideration whereof, it is now here ordered, adjudged, and decreed by this court, that the decree of the said Supreme Court in this cause be and the same is hereby affirmed, with costs and damages at the rate of six per centum per annum, with leave to the appellees to sell the mortgaged property in the mode prescribed by law, unless the appellant shall pay the amount of said decree, with interest thereon, and the costs, within sixty days from the filing of the mandate in this case in the proper court of the State of Iowa.