Opinion ID: 1683864
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: was the description of the disputed property adequate?

Text: The September 13 agreement, by its terms, purports to give C & D an interest in a 25-foot strip of land north and south and lying immediately west of the old Maloney Building... . There is no other description of the property to be conveyed. The chancellor held this was an insufficient description of the property. The most important argument for the appellees is the fact that a description sufficient to make an agreement binding as between the parties may not be enough to bind subsequent purchasers like Evans and Overton. Our basic rule on this problem was laid down in Simmons v. Hutchinson, 81 Miss. 351, 33 So. 21 (1902). There, we observed: Constructive notice arising from the record ... imputes only such knowledge as the instrument there recorded discloses and not what a diligent inquiry into its meaning might disclose. The registration of an instrument is constructive notice to the world of the paper they recorded or intended to be recorded and of its particular contents only and it will have no operation or effect, unless the original instrument correctly and sufficiently describes the premises which are to be effected. 81 Miss. 350 at 356-57, 33 So. at 22. In other words, the recording of an instrument does not put any subsequent purchaser on inquiry notice. This principle has been reaffirmed on several subsequent occasions, e.g., Sack v. Gilmer Dry Goods Co., 149 Miss. 296, 302, 115 So. 339, 340 (1928); Saxon v. Saxon, 242 Miss. 491, 496, 136 So.2d 210, 212 (1962). If this litigation were concerned solely with the legal title, that would probably be the end of the matter, at least as far as it concerns Evans and Overton. But even if their legal title were unassailable, it does not necessarily follow that their holding is not subject to C & D's equitable interest in the property. As pointed out by the appellants, it is well settled that one who takes a deed of land with outstanding contract or title, takes it subject to such contract or title, and the person who purchases property with notice of a prior agreement by the vendor to convey to another person is regarded as the trustee of the latter. 71 Am.Jur.2d Specific Performance § 169. The kicker here is that courts have been far more liberal in their definition of what constitutes effective notice where the finding of notice would result in a subsequent purchaser being subject to an equitable interest than where such a finding would call his title into question. It has been frequently held that a deed in the chain of title which would be discovered by a purchaser is effective to put him on notice as to an equitable interest, whereas a comparable notice would not have made him vulnerable as to his legal title. Hallock v. Bushauer, 113 N.J. Eq. 102, 166 A. 226 (1933), was somewhat similar to the present case. There, the owner of some real property contracted with the plaintiff to convey certain property to the plaintiff, but subsequently sold the property to a third party, who had knowledge of the previous agreement. The plaintiff brought suit against this third party for specific performance of the contract to sell to him. The subsequent purchaser's defense was that the original agreement between the vendor and the plaintiff was not sufficiently definite in the description of the land to be conveyed. The court rejected that argument, holding that the existence of the contract of sale put the subsequent purchaser on inquiry notice since after due diligence he could have ascertained what property it was that was to be conveyed. 166 A. at 227 Another case was Luthi v. Evans, 223 Kan. 622, 576 P.2d 1064 (1978). A vendor contracted to sell a certain party all of his property in a certain county (a so-called Mother Hubbard clause). Instead, he conveyed much of this property to a third party. The court held the subsequent purchaser takes subject to the previous agreement to sell, since he had notice of the previous agreement with a general description capable of being made specific. For similar decisions see, e.g., Hill v. Taylor, 285 Ala. 612, 235 So.2d 647, 649 (1970); Cox v. Bowman, 213 Or. 154, 323 P.2d 60, 63 (1958); Cantrell v. Herring, 144 Fla. 576, 198 So. 206, 208 (1941). At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, there was testimony that the disputed property was capable of identification by trained surveyors. It was pointed out that the old Maloney Building, to which the 25-foot strip was adjacent, was a recognized landmark. On the whole we cannot say from the record that Evans and Overton lacked the degree of notice necessary to alert them that their property might be subject to C & D's equitable interest. Whether or not the 25-foot strip could be identified with sufficient specificity to put them on such notice could only be determined by a full trial. The same is true of the question whether the completion of the office building has now made specific performance an impracticable remedy. These questions and the merits of any equitable defenses, should be determined by trial. REVERSED AND REMANDED. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, GRIFFIN and ZUCCARO, JJ., concur.