Porter

The action is for specific performance of an agreement fo convey certain placer mining land in Nevada County.

After plaintiff had introduced Ms evidence at the trial a motion for nonsuit was made upon the grounds that the complaint failed to state a cause of action; that the plaintiff was barred by his laches in making tender of payment more than three years and five months after the third payment in his ■contract became due and more than two years and five months after the fourth payment became due; that time was of the essence of the contract, and therefore plaintiff could not recover; that the delay in making his tender constituted laches from the very nature of the land, it being mining property; that plaintiff had failed to prove the value of the land, and that he had not shown that the sum of seven hundred dollars, as set forth and mentioned in the contract sued upon, was and is a fair and adequate considera tion and price for the land therein described. The court held that time is an essential feature in contracts relating to the sale and purchase of mining property, and that, since the tender of payments was made long after they became due, the plaintiff was barred by his…