BEARD VS. LINTHICUM. 347

and havfe a final adjustment of fhe contract as soon as the con-
sent of Stewart could be obtained; that he accordingly did
enter upon the land and occupied the same, (though he did not
consider himself a purchaser thereof,) but that Beard never had
procured the consent of said Stewart, or settled the disputes
relative to the boundaries of the land; that he never had agreed
to mortgage any negroes to secure the payment of the purchase
money of the land; that the negroes alluded to belonged to his
mother; and that he had no intention of removing himself or
the negroes out of the state.

The answer of Stewart, who was made a defendant, stated
that he never would have sanctioned so loose a contract as that
charged in the bill, and that he had himself instituted a suit in
chancery to obtain a sale of the lands in question, to satisfy his
claim.

Certain testimony was afterwards taken, the effect of which
will appear from the Chancellor's opinion; and afterwards an
agreement was. filed to amend the bill, (if the Chancellor would
have authorized such an amendment,) by striking out the alle-
gation in regard to the interest which bad become due since
the purchase from George H. Stewart.

The case having been submitted at this term, the Chancellor
delivered the following opinion :]

THE CHANCELLOR:

This is a bill for the specific performance of a parol contract to
sell land, and the contract being denied by the answers, and
the statute of frauds insisted on, an effort has been made, on
the part of the plaintiffs, to take the case out of the statute of
frauds by proving acts of part performance.

It has been repeatedly remarked by eminent judges that the
disposition which at one time existed, to relax the statute of
frauds, should be opposed, and that the courts should take a
stand against any further encroachment upon its provisions, and
not go beyond the rules and precedents already established.

Such was the language of Chancellor Kent in Philips vs.
Thompson, 1 Johns. Ch. Rep., 131, and such I am persuaded