Hei v. Heller

10 N.W. 620, 53 Wis. 415, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 277
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1881
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 10 N.W. 620 (Hei v. Heller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hei v. Heller, 10 N.W. 620, 53 Wis. 415, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 277 (Wis. 1881).

Opinion

Outon, J.

On the third day of April, 1876, Carl Heller, since deceased, and his wife, Wilhelmina, executed a warranty deed of certain lands therein described to their son August Heller, the defendant, in consideration of $1,000, which, according to a certain bond executed at the same date by the said August, secured by a mortgage on the land, was to be paid in installments — the first, of $200, payable on the third day of April, 1878, and the other, of $800, on the third day of April, 1887. In the body of said deed was the agreement of said August to furnish to the said Carl Heller and wife, each year during their natural lives, certain provisions, hay and fire-wood, the free use and occupancy of a small dwelling-house situated on a part of the premises, and of one acre of land, to be cultivated for them, and the use of the horses on the farm when not needed for field work, harvesting, etc.

On the third day of November, 1876, the said. Carl Heller [417]*417died intestate, and on the third day of April, 1879, the plaintiff was appointed the administrator of his estate. At the time of his death, his son August, the defendant, lived with him on the farm, and afterwards a large amount of personal property, consisting of cattlé, horses, hogs, sheep, hens, wagons, sleigh, reaper, plow, cultivators, fanning mill, grain, hay, potatoes, wood and household furniture, of the value of $1,250, then on said farm, which formerly belonged to his father, was found in his possession. To the complaint for the delivery of this property as a part of the estate of Carl Heller, deceased, the defendant answered substantially that he purchased it of his father at the time of the execution of said deed, and as a part of the consideration of his said agreement in said deed, and of said bond and mortgage, and as a part of the same transaction; and he was allowed by the circuit court to prove such facts, against the objection of the plaintiff. That this evidence was so allowed and permitted is the error complained of on this appeal; and the learned counsel of the .appellant insists that this evidence changed, varied and added to the terms of the deed, agreement and bond and mortgage which constituted the written evidence of the whole transaction, and was therefore inadmissible for such purpose.

It will be observed that it cannot be claimed that this property is a part of the consideration of the deed, and therefore may be shown by parol; for the title to it comes from the same source as the title to the land, so that the claim of the defendant must be that, in addition to the land conveyed by the deed, this personal property constituted a part of the consideration of the agreement in the deed, and of the bond and mortgage.

To authorize the admission of parol evidence to prove that the purchase of this personal property by the respondent constituted a part of the consideration of his agreement to provide for the support of the deceased and his wife during life, and of his $1,000 bond and mortgage to his father, in addition [418]*418to the conveyance of the land, the principle is invoked, “ that when only part of an entire agreement is reduced to writing, the residue may *be proved by extrinsic evidence.” To make such principle applicable, it must appear from the writings themselves that the whole agreement was not reduced to writing, and that the writings are incomplete to express the entire agreement. This is as well illustrated by the two cases decided by this court, cited by the learned counsel of the respondent in order to establish the light to prove by parol in this case the consideration not expressed in the writings, as in any which can be found.

In Farmers Loan & Trust Co. v. Commercial Bank of Racine, 15 Wis., 440, it was sought to show that certain railway chairs, not used in the construction of the railway, passed by certain mortgages on the road and its equipments, which failed to express such an intention; and his honor, the lamented Judge Paine, says in respect to it: “ But it must be borne in blind that it is not the business of construction to look outside of the instrument to get at the intention of the parties, and then carry out that intention whether the instrument contains language sufficient to express it or not.”

In Ballston Spa Bank v. Marine Bank, 16 Wis., 120, it was allowed to show what was the consideration of a certain receipt where the consideration was not expressed in it, and Chief Justice Dixon says in respect to it: The contract upon which the transfer was made, or rather the consideration of it, is entirely omitted. . . . If we look upon the receipt, we cannot say what was the consideration for the deposit; hence, to prove that the securities were given in 'Consideration of further time upon the principal debt, does not vary or contradict the terms of the receipt.”

It is clear, from all authorities on the question, that when the contract is reduced to writing, and the writing purports to contain the whole contract, and it is not apparent from! the writing itself that anything is left out to be supplied by ex[419]*419trinsic evidence, parol evidence to vary or add to its terms is not admissible. The two authorities above cited are clearly analogous in asserting this principle, and ‘the difference between them makes it the more apparent in its application. In the first, the property described in the mortgages appeared to be all intended to be mortgaged by their terms, and therefore other property could not be brought within them by parol evidence. In the latter, the receipt did not express the consideration at all, and therefore it could be proved or supplied by parol evidence. In this case the consideration and the whole of it is expressed in the writings, and it does not appear to be imperfect or inadequate. The consideration sought to be shown by parol evidence is very important and of large amount,, which the parties would not be likely to omit from the writings if intended to be a part of the agreement.

"Without referring to the numerous and uniform decisions of courts elsewhere to justify the exclusion of the evidence allowed in this case to vary, contradict and add to the terms of the written instruments introduced by the plaintiff, it is sufficient to refer only to our own decisions of the question, which are too numerous to be specifically noticed. We will therefore cite only one more, and that a late case, in which the doctrine is very ably and exhaustively examined and applied to facts closely analogous to those of this casé, by Mr. Justice Lyon. In Hubbard v. Marshall, 50 Wis., 322, there was a contract in writing for the conveyance of timber on certain land, and for certain other lands, on the performance of certain conditions named therein. It was sought to prove a contemporaneous agreement in parol, providing for a deduction to be made for any deficiency in the amount of the timber or lumber on the lands described, at the rate of $2.50 per 1,000 feet, in diminution of the consideration to be paid therefor. Even that was not allowed, because the written contract professes to contain all of the conditions and terms of the con[420]*420tract made between the parties, and is free from ambiguity and uncertainty.

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Bluebook (online)
10 N.W. 620, 53 Wis. 415, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hei-v-heller-wis-1881.