Stephen Johnson Field

“ Now, if a party does not become a partner with others in business, general or special, as is above clearly established by the authorities, from the fact that by way of compensation he participates with them in the profits of the business, it follows that he does not, by reason of such participation, acquire any interest, legal or equitable, in the property which constitutes the basis of the business. ”

“ Price was, it is true, interested in the profits to be made in the sale of the land, according to the terms of the agreement. It was not, however, the interest of a partner, but the interest which every party to an executory contract has in having the stipulations in his favor performed by the other party. A personal action against the delinquent party, or his personal representatives, is the remedy for the breach of an agreement of this character. Resort can be had to equity only when special circumstances intervene to render the action at law unavailable. ”

“ If language is to be interpreted in its natural and ordinary sense, the contract means that, and means nothing more nor less. The purchases, it says, shall be made during the present year. The sale shall be made within five years from that time, and one-half the profits from such purchase and sale, not from purchases or sales made at any other time, shall be paid to Price, not as profits, but as compensation for his services. ”

“ Watson is sound law, and it has not, that we are aware of, ever been questioned, but, on the contrary, has been uniformly approved by the highest courts of England and of the United States, it is impossible for the complainants to sustain the present suit. ”

“ There is no copartnership where the relationship between the parties is that of master and servant, or of employer and employee, though the compensation of the latter may be in proportion to the profits, or be paid entirely out of them. Under some circumstances parties thus receiving a portion of the profits may be held, as respects third persons, subject to the liabilities of partners ”

“ With the immense tide of immigration setting in that direction, lands of comparatively little value one day sometimes in a few months become the sites of villages and cities, and the source of affluence to their possessors. ”