Court Opinion

ID: 9811719
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:27:46.189646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:21:15.064419
License: Public Domain

Douglas, J.
(dissenting). I can not concur in the judgment of the Court, because it seems to me to fiy in the teeth of the statute of frauds. This statute, originally St. 29 Car. II. c. 3, sec. 2, now sec. 1554 of The Code, reads as follows: “All contracts to sell or convey any lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning them shall be void and of no effect, unless such contract or some memorandum or note thereof shall be put in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith or by some other person by him thereto lawfully authorized.” The avowed purpose of this statute, as originally expressed, was to prevent frauds and perjuries by doing away with the opportunities ánd inducements offered by certain parol contracts, those relating to sales of landed interests being perhaps the most important. ■ It is similar in purpose to section 590 of The Code; and I *105regret to say that both sections, though, founded on acknowledged principles of public policy and repeatedly affirmed and reaffirmed by legislative enactment, seem doomed to ultimate •emasculation by the well-meaning, but dangerous relaxations of the Courts, based upon the extension of equitable principles. We have frequently seen hqw sections 171 and 172 of the Code may be practically nullified by triennial payments •-of insignificant amounts or alleged promises not to plead the statute. A recent case, forcibly illustrating the former, is Garrett v. Reeves, 125 N. C., 529. In the case at bar the plaintiff is not in possession of the property, and this, in my mind, distinguishes this case from all those cited by the Court in support of its opinion. The plaintiff says that “she surrendered the possession to the defendant at his request and upon his promise to give her a part of the rent for the benefit of her said children.” There was no allegation of force or fraud, further than a promise whose fulfillment rested entirely in the future. Under such circumstances, the “preventive” remedies of a Court of Equity have no place. The word “prevexlt” is derived from the Latin word praevenire” — to come before; to precede. This was its original meaning in English, as given by Webster, its present meaning being “to intercept, to hinder, to frustrate, to stop, to thwart.” All its meanings are anticipative. To prevent an injury, does not mean to redress an injury. By the very meaning of the words, the one necessarily comes after the injury, while the other must precede it. Hence the equities arising from a parol agreement for the sale of land were originally enforced only by enjoining the vendor from taking possession of the. land. Even down to the present day, I am unable to find a single case in our Reports where the vendee in parol has recovered for improvements .after his surrender of possession. On this point, the Court cites Tucker v. Markland, 101 N. C., 422; Pitt v. Moore, 99 *106N. C., 85, and Thomas v. Kyles, 54 N. C., 302. In the last-named case specific performance was decreed for the greater-part of the land. The last clause of the opinion relating to-the five acres is very short, and, while it does not specifically state that that portion of the land was in the possession of the plaintiff, there is nothing to the contrary. The natural inference is that the plainiff was in possession, as the decree-simply provides that an account of the improvements shall be taken without in any way making them a lien upon the land or the rents and profits thereof. Moreover, this case is distinguished and almost overruled in Sain v. Dulin, 59 N. C., 195, which is clearly against the contention of the plaintiff in the case at bar, as also is Dunn v. Moore, 38 N. C., 364. Both these latter cases have been repeatedly cited with approval. In Pitt v. Moore, also a suit for specific performance, the plaintiff and defendant appear to have been partners, jointly in possession of the mill. The Court says, on page 92, 99 N. C.: “The action is substantially for the settlement of the partnership, and the plaintiff is entitled to have an account,” etc. In Tucher v. MarMand, the-Court distinctly states the principle of its decision in the following words: “It would be inequitable and against conscience to allow the latter to turn him (the vendee) out of possession thereof without restoring his outlay in cash and for valuable improvements he put on the land while so in possession. * * * Shall the Court allow the vendor to keep the money of the vendee, which he thus obtained, while it helps him to get possession of the land ? Surely not. The-Court of Equity will not enforce the contract because the-statute pleaded renders it void,, but it will not help the vendor to consummate a fraud.” In Albea v. Griffin, 22 N. C., 9, the leading case upon the subject, this Court says: “If they repudiate the contract, which they have a right to do,. *107they must not take the improved property from the plaintiff without compensation for the additional value which these improvements have conferred upon the property.” To the same effect is Pass v. Brooks, 125 N. C., 129. In the very nature of things, what other remedy can be given without violating the letter and spirit of the statute ? In the case at bar the Court, can not say: “We will prevent the vendor from taking back his land without just compensation; we will not help him to commit’ a fraud.” The vendor asks no help. His fraud is an accomplished fact. He is in possession of his land, and simply asks to be let alone. What then can we do ? We can not decree specific performance, nor can we put the plaintiff back in possession of the land which she voluntarily surrendered.
But it is said we can render an affirmative judgment for the amount of the improvements. In what way? Not in contract, for there was no agreement that the vendor would pay for the house. Not for breach of contract, for the only contract between them was one that lies under the ban of the law. Such a contract can not even be proved, much less enforced. It is true the vendee in possession may prove a parol contract of sale as showing the nature of his possession, but not as the sole ground of affirmative relief. This seems to be clearly recognized in North v. Bunn, 122 N. C., 766, an action in the nature of ejectment. There the Court says: “The contract for the conveyance of the land in dispute, being in parol and denied, can not be enforced by reason of the statute of frauds. When the contract is denied, the Court can not hear proof of a void contract,”—citing Dunn v. Moore, 38 N. C., 364. Further on the Court, referring'to compensation for improvements, says: “This relief is not founded upon the existence of any contract sought to be executed, or for the breach of which compensation or damages were asked. It is an appeal to the Court to prevent fraud.”
*108The only case I can find in our Reports where the vendee has even asked for compensation for improvements after his surrender of possession is McCracken v. McCracken,88 N. C., 272, and there his right was absolutely denied by a majority of this Court. Justice RimuN, speaking for the Court, says: “But, neither in that case (Albea v. Griffin), nor in any other in which its principles have been adopted — and there are many such, — is there even a suggestion to be found that an action can be sustained in any form, or in any Court, whether at law or in equity, for damages for the non-performance of such a contract; and that is simply what this action is,— nothing more nor less. To permit it to be done would be for the Courts to act in the very teeth of the statute, in defiance of the declared will of the legislature.” It is true in that case the vendor offered to let the vendee take his improvements, one of them being a mill-race dug in the ground. A hole in the ground is not a very valuable piece of property when severed from the realty, and so the vendee asked the Court to give him something else instead. The Chief Justice dissented from the opinion of the Court in an able opinion, upon the reasoning of which the plaintiff’s counsel, who has clearly presented every available point in his case, frankly stated he chiefly relied. There is much in the case at bar that appeals to our moral sensibilities, but not to our equitable jurisdiction. We must remember that such jurisdiction attaches where there is no adequate remedy at law, but not where the contract is forbidden by law. There is a clear distinction between the illegality of a contract and the inadequacy of a legal remedy, as much so as there is between the statement of a defective cause of action and a defective statement of a cause of action. In one case the defect is in the substance ; but in the other, merely in the accident.
That it is the policy of the law to regard the vendee’s claim *109for improvements as purely a defensive remedy appears from section 473 of The Code, which provides that any defendant against whom a judgment shall be rendered for land may, at any time before the execution of such judgment, present a petition to be allowed for permanent improvements put upon the land in good faith. Boyer v. Garner, 116 N. C., 125, 130. It would seem that the decided current of authority in other States is to the effect that claims for improvements can not be entertained after surrender of the premises, but so much depends upon local statutes that the value of such decisions is frequently doubtful, as applying to general principles of equity. 16 Am. and Eng. Enc. Law, 103-105. In many States, perhaps in a majority, such parol contracts are enforced under the principle of part performance; but as this doctrine has been distinctly repudiated in this State, we must decide the question in accordance with the tenor of our decisions and the policy of our laws.