Lambert v. Gerner

Specific Performance—Contract of Sale—Statute of Frauds— Agency—Ratification—Estoppel—Ignorance of Owner.—An alleged contract for the sale of real estate cannot be specifically enforced, where it was made by a real-estate agent whose authority was not in writing, and where there was no ratification of the contract in writing, nor any estoppel of the owner. He could not ratify the contract without knowledge of its existence; nor could he be estopped to deny it where he received and retained nothing under it, and had no notice of it.

Id.—Letters not Conferring Authority—Agency not Shown.—Letters of the owner to the real-estate agent answering inquiries as to the owner’s price for the land, but not giving him any power or authority concerning the disposal of his property, do not prove any written contract or agency. A person cannot make himself the agent of another by writing letters and acting as agent without the assent of the owner.

Id.—Meeting of Minds—Acceptance of Offer—Conditions—Withdrawal of Offer—Waiver of Conditions.—An acceptance of an offer, in order to make a contract complete, must be unconditional, and it must be accepted as made. Where conditions are attached to the acceptance, and the offer is then withdrawn, it cannot be made binding by a waiver of the conditions insisted upon when the offer was made.

Id.—Evidence—Custom of Real-Estate Agents.—It was not error to exclude evidence of a local custom of real-estate agents which was not material to the ease, and could not have affected the conclusions reached by the court.