TaiLexi AI U.S. Case Law

Hodgdon v. Golder

Lois D. Hodgdon and another v. Moses D. Golder

Hodgdon v. Golder, 75 Me. 293 (1883)
Download
Format
Include

Star paging (*137) is kept for pin cites.

Court
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · State Highest Courts
Decided
June 13, 1883
Judges
Appleton, Barrows, Danforth, Peters, Symonds, Yirgin
Citations
75 Me. 2931883 Me. LEXIS 123
Headnotes
Promissory notes. Defence. Failure of title. A partial failure of title constitutes no defence to a suit on a note given for real estate.
Summary
Report on agreed statement. Assumpsit on a promissory note of nine hundred dollai’s given. May 11, 1876, by the defendant to the plaintiffs. The opinion states the material facts. cited: Morrison v.. ■ Jewell, 34 Maine, 146 ; Thompson v. Mansfield, 43 Maine, 490... There was a total failure of the consideration. Rice v. Goddard, 14 Pick. 295, and cases there cited; Jenness v. Parker, 24 Maine, 289. . Defendant took no title by the widow’s joining 'in the deed. A widow cannot alien or assign unassigned dower. 1 Washburn 'on Real Property, (3d. ed.) 286, 232, 237 ; Johnson v. Shields, 32 Maine, 424. Her joining in the deed can only operate, at the most, as an ■estoppel and not by way of grant of title. Lothrojo v. Foster, 51 Maine, 367. The principal estate having failed, the subordinate estate, if any, fails also. .There was a total failure, of a specified, distinct aliquot part of the consideration; to wit, the share of Nellie M. Hodgdón; and the defendant has no remedy upon the covenants of Nellie M. Hodgdon, she was a minor and her deed has been avoided.

Syllabus and headnotes are prepared by the reporter or publisher, not the court, and are not part of the opinion.

Opinion of the Court — Appleton

Text extracted by OCR from a scanned original; check the original for exact wording.

Appleton, C. J.

On February 25, 1874, Alexander B. Hodgdon died leaving a widow and three children, one of whom, Nellie M. Hodgdon, was a minor. In the following April an administrator was duly appointed and qualified. .

In May, 1876, the wid'ow and son acting as agents for the two daughters as well as for themselves, sold the real estate of the decedent to the defendant for thirty five hundred dollars, giving a warranty deed signed by them and the other children ■of the deceased. The note in suit was given as part of the consideration of the purchase.

At time of the above mentioned conveyance, the estate of the decedent had not been settled in the probate office. Subsequently thereto, the real estate conveyed to the defendant, was sold by the administrator de bonis non of the estate of Alexander B. Hodgdon to S. A. Cummings and Jacob A. Field, to the latter of whom the defendant had conveyed the estate by him purchased, .as before stated.

The interest of Nellie M.'Hodgdon, was sold by her guardian To S. A. Cummings by license from the probate court.

*295 The warranty deed of the heirs and widow of Alexander B. Hodgdon conveyed to the defendant a seizin of the premises granted. He entered into possession of and occupied the same until he conveyed them away. He had both seizin and possession. Though subsequently, this title was defeated by the deed of the administrator de. bonis non on the estate of Hodgdon and that of the guardian of the daughter, there was not such an entire failure of consideration as would constitute a defense. Wentworth v. Goodwin, 21 Maine, 150; Morrison v. Jewell, 34 Maine, 146; Thompson v. Mansfield, 43 Maine, 490; Wentworth v. Dows, 117 Mass. 14 .

The remedy when anything valuable passes by the title, but not the entire estate conveyed, is by an action of covenant broken. To constitute a valid defense to a note given for the conveyance of real estate there must be a total and entire failure of title. Jenness v. Parker, 24 Maine, 289.

Defendant defaulted. Damages to be assessed at nisi prius.

Barrows, DaNforth, YirgiN, Peters and Symonds, JJ., concurred.

How later courts describe this case

No later court has written an explanatory parenthetical about this case yet.

1902: 119022026peak 1902 · 1

Relies on it most ⓘ

  1. American Nat. Bank v. Watkins119 F. 545 (7th Cir. 1902)

Most recent

  1. American Nat. Bank v. Watkins119 F. 545 (7th Cir. 1902)

Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 1

DepthCaseCited by
Wentworth v. Dows, 117 Mass. 14 (1875) 10

Keyboard shortcuts

/Focus the search box
j kNext / previous result
EnterOpen the selected result
xAdd / remove the selected result from the download list
n pNext / previous search term in a case
cCopy the citation of the current case
+ −Larger / smaller reading text
?Show this list