Section 4

Any alteration of the subject-matter of the contract by the vendor, in any particular which does not admit of compensation or reinstatement, as the cutting of ornamental timber (o) or other trees, will entitle the purchaser to abandon the contract. The felling of ordinary timber by the vendor pending the completion of the contract may be a matter for compensation (p), the principle of Equity being that "if substantially the purchaser can have the thing contracted for, a slight variation in the qualifications of it will not disable the vendor from having a decree for specific performance, when compensation can be made pecuniarily for the difference"(q). As between vendor and purchaser the Court, it is conceived, would consider whether the trees destroyed were in fact, or might reasonably bo considered, ornamental; and would not - as in cases between tenant for life and remaindermen - regard as ornamental only trees which were planted or left standing for ornament (r).

Material alteration of property by vendor may avoid contract.

Felling ornamental timber.

(n) Stuckley v. Kekewich, 190ft, 1 Ch. 67.

(o) Magennis v. Fallon, (1828) 2 Moll. 561, 588.

(p) S. C; Sug. 14th ed. 644.

(q) Per Hart, L. C., 2 Moll. p. 588.