From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.
Ziehen v. Smith
Court of Appeals of New York
42 N.E. 1080 (1896)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Ziehen (plaintiff) agreed to buy a tract of land from Smith (defendant). Ziehen paid $500 down upon the execution of the contract. The day designated by the contract for mutual performance—the remainder of the payment and transfer of the deed—was September 15, 1892. Unbeknownst to either party, there was a third-party mortgage on the land, and an action to foreclose the mortgage had commenced on July 21, 1892. On September 15, Ziehen did not offer to pay the purchase price, nor did he demand performance from Smith. The foreclosure was later granted on September 30. Ziehen brought suit to recover his down payment. The trial court found in Ziehen's favor, and Smith appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (O’Brien, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
