Goddard v St. Jour et Al

• Jurisdiction: St Lucia
• Judge: Manning, J.
• Judgment Date: 15 July 1959
• Neutral Citation: LC 1959 HC 7
• Date: 15 July 1959
• Court: High Court (Saint Lucia)
• Docket Number: No. 58 and 58A of 1958

Supreme Court of the Windward and Leeward Islands.

Manning, J.

No. 58 and 58A of 1958

Goddard

and

St. Jour et al

Appearances:

V. A. Cooper for plaintiff

D. B. James for defendants Nos. 1, 2 and 3

Real property - Agreement for sale of land — Validity.

Facts: The issues were whether an agreement to sell the property in question was valid and whether the document was signed under undue pressure.

Held: A definite agreement existed to sell the land. By virtue of Article 1386 of the Civil Code this was not equivalent to a sale. However, since the plaintiff receded from his promise to sell he was liable to pay the defendant $200.00 damages.

Manning, J.

1 Certain facts in this action are not in dispute. The defendant Elwyn St. Jour (hereinafter referred to as Elwyn) and his wife were the owners of land at Vigie St. Lucia. During the year 1955, the plaintiff Goddard was anxious to purchase this land or a portion of it and on the 9 ^th July that year he had an interview with Elwyn at the latter's home at Vigie. Besides Goddard and Elwyn, there was present at this interview a gentleman named Cabral, and Elwyn's wife was in and out of the room where the discussion was taking place. The result of the discussion was that the following document was drawn up (Exhibit “J.B.G. 1”):

“9th July, 1955.

“Received from John B. Goddard the suns of one thousand dollars $1,000.00 a account of one acre of land to be sold at two hundred pounds per acre £200 and one acre of land or thereabouts opposite Married Womens Quarters to be sold at the rate of three hundred pounds per acre (£300)”.

2 The document was then signed by Elwyn; his wife and Cabral signed as witnesses; and Goddard signed at the foot of the document. Goddard handed over a cheque for $1,000 payable to Elwyn.

3 On the 5 ^th August, Goddard's solicitors wrote to Elwyn asking when Goddard might expect completion of the sale (Exhibit “S.J. 4”). On the 9 ^th August, in a letter to Goddard, Elwyn alleged that there had been an error in document “J.B.G. 1”, and reminded Goddard of some verbal conditions which he said had accompanied the drawing up of the document. On the 11 ^th August, Goddard's solicitors wrote to Elwyn again asking for completion of the faction. On the 25 ^th August, Elwyn wrote to Goddard, returning the cheque for $1,000 again pointing out that there had been an error in the document, which he signed on July 9th, and referring to some verbal conditions to which he said Goddard had agreed. He said he had decided not to sell the land to Goddard. Before this last letter was written, he had put it out of his power to sell the land to anyone, as on the 17 ^th August he and his wife had sold to one Cecile St. Jour all the land, which they possessed at Vigie.

4 On the 27 ^th August, Goddard filed a declaration against Elwyn. It alleged an agreement whereby Elwyn sold to him certain land as described in a Schedule, it declared that Elwyn had refused to execute a deed of conveyance Goddard asked for specific performance of the agreement or damages in lieu thereof.

5 Cecile St. Jour had sold the land conveyed to her to one Lucy Lartigue; and on the 19 ^th October 1955, on an application by Goddard, an order had been made granting him permission to join Elwyn's wife Marie St. Jour, Cecile St. Jour, and Lacy Lartigue as defendants in the action.

6 On the 20 ^th October 1955, Elwyn delivered his defence. He denied that he ever sold any land to Goddard; he said that he signed the document “J.B.G. 1” without reading it; that the $1,000 was not on account of any purchase price for land and the cheque was merely deposited with him without any...