Pendleton's Exc'r v. Stewart

First page of the opinion Pendleton's Ex'rs v Stewart, in Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Court of Appeals of Virginia, by Daniel Call. Richmond: R. I. Smith, 1833.

In Pendleton's Ex'rs v Stewart, 10 Va. (5 Call) 1 (1804), the court determined whether a purchaser could be relieved in equity in a contract for a specific amount of land, conditioned by the words "more or less."

Background

James Pendleton and William Stewart entered into the following agreement:

Memo. of an agreement between William Stewart of the county of K. G. and James Pendleton of the county of Culpeper. The said Stewart has agreed to sell to said Pendleton 1100 acres of land (more or less) adjoining said Pendleton, for the sum of £ 330, to be paid at four equal yearly payments, the first to commence on the 25th of December, 1784. Witness our hands and seals this 30th day of September, 1783.

The land was sold at a fixed price, rather than by the acre. After the sale, the executors found the land belonged to various other people and greatly diminished the quantity of the land. According to Stewart, he offered to cancel the contract, but Pendleton refused and then withheld the purchase money. A judgment was issued against him, and after his death, Pendleton's executors sued Stewart in the High Court of Chancery for specific performance of the contract and a corresponding deduction in the purchase money based on the deficiency.

The Court's Decision

Chancellor Wythe dismissed the case. The Court of Appeals reversed, reasoning that the wording of "more or less" did not contain any warrant to a certain quantity of land, and therefore Pendleton was not entitled to any deduction. However, the Court ruled that rather than dismissing the case, Wythe should have conveyed the land to Pendleton’s testators as it was described in the contract after Stewart received the full amount of the purchase money due.

See also

• Wythe's Judicial Career