Blakeman

The case is as follows: A deed of lease was executed by A. Th. Louis Miller to John Apel, leasing to the latter premises in the city of San Francisco, therein described, for the term of twenty years from the first day of August, 1894, for the aggregate rental of $62,400, payable in monthly installments of $260, and containing a covenant by which the party of the first part binds “himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators to sell and convey unto said party of the second part, his heirs or assigns, all the said property at any time after the expiration of fifteen years of this lease, and withinthe term, created thereby, upon payment by said party of the second part, his heirs, etc. ... of the sum of forty thousand dollars less all mortgages, etc. . . . made or suffered by said party of the first part.”

Both parties to this instrument died before the expiration of the fifteen years therein named. The defendants are the heirs of the lessor, and distributees under the decree of distribution of his estate. The plaintiff claims under an assignment of the lease made September 6, 1894, by the lessee to the plaintiff’s assignor. The suit was brought to enforce a specific…