INDEX. 591

RESULTING TRUST— Continued.

being expressly excepted from the statute of frauds may be proved by
parol. Brooks vs. Dent, 523.
3. But such resulting trust cannot be set up to the prejudice of the rights

of subsequent creditors. Ib.
RETURN OF COMMISSIONS TO MAKE PARTITION.

See PARTITION.
SALES BY TRUSTEES.

1. An advertisement for sale of lands by a trustee, stated that, "by virtue
of a decree of the High Court of Chancery, there will be sold certain
real estate," naming the tracts and giving their locality, "of which J.
C. died seized and possessed," but did not state the names of the par-
ties to the suit in which the decree passed, nor the several incumbran-
ces upon the property. HELD—

That the sale would not, on this account, be vacated, in the absence
of proof that competition in the purchase was prevented, or
the sale in any respect prejudiced thereby. Gid&tvs. Cwiming-
ham, 44.

2. The objection that the trustee did not sell the interest of the parties to
the suit, but only the interest and title of which J. C. died seized and
possessed, is an objection which only the purchasers themselves could
take, as they, and. they alone, are injured by it. 16.

3. Where a sale is objected to, on the ground of inadequacy of price,"re-
sulting from doubts about the title, which doubts could have been re-
moved, by reasonable efforts on the part of the trustee, his neglect to
do so may effect the question of ratification. 16,

4. Inadequacy of price will not induce the court to vacate a sale in other
respepts unexceptionable, unless such inadequacy is so gross OB to in-
dicate a want of reasonable judgment and discretion on the part of the
trustee. Ib.

5. The sale in this case -was made for $3,000. HELD—That an offer of
$4,000, made subsequent to the sale, and after the value of the prop-
erty had been enhanced, could have but little weight in determining
whether the property previously sold at a price so much below its
value, as to indicate a want of reasonable judgment in the trustee. Ib.

6. The validity or invalidity of a sale must depend upon the state of cir-
cumstances existing at the time it was made. In sales made by trus-
tees acting under the decrees of a Court of Chancery, the court is the
contracting party on the one side, and the bidder on the other, the
trustee being regarded as the mere agent or attorney of the court. Ib.
^. A. trustee after making fruitless efforts to sell lands, according to the
terms of the decree, sold them at private sale, at a price greatly exceed-
ing the best offer he could get for them at public sale. HELD—
That, upon the principle that chancery will ratify an act when done,
which upon previous application would have been authorized, the
objection to the act of the trustee, founded upon the form of the
sale, cannot prevail. 16. *
8. Whilst the court will vacate sales, by trustees, made under the influence

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