Bernardy v. Colonial & United States Mortgage Co.

98 N.W. 166, 17 S.D. 637, 1904 S.D. LEXIS 9
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 3, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 98 N.W. 166 (Bernardy v. Colonial & United States Mortgage Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bernardy v. Colonial & United States Mortgage Co., 98 N.W. 166, 17 S.D. 637, 1904 S.D. LEXIS 9 (S.D. 1904).

Opinions

Corson, P. J.

This action was instituted by the plaintiff to quiet his title to a quarter section of land in Kingsbury county. The judgment was in favor of the plaintiff, and the defendant has appealed. All the facts in the case were stipulated, and are contained in the agreed statement of facts, which constitutes, in effect, the findings of the court. . There are many facts contained in the agreed statement that we regard as entirely immaterial in the determination of this case. All the facts that we deem material are that in February, 1898, William A. Wilkes made a timber-culture entry for the premises in controversy; that in May, 1890, said Wilkes and wife and one Wells and wife executed, acknowledged and delivered to the defendant a deed to the premises in controversy purporting to grant to the defendant a fee-simple title to the same, and that said deed was duly recorded in March, 1891; that in April, 1895, the said Wilkes received a United States patent for the said premises; that in 1893 Wilkes and wife executed a mortgage upon the said property to one Edgar Smith, which mortgage was foreclosed, and all the title that Smith acquired thereunder, if any, passed by mesne conveyance to the plaint[641]*641iff. It will thus be seen that the deed to the defendant and the mortgage to Smith were both executed by the same party (Wilkes) prior to the issuance of the patent, and that the Wilkes deed to the defendant was recorded about two years prior to the execution of the mortgage. Wells does not appear, to have had any interest in the timber-culture claim, and he will not be further referred to. Two questions are therefore presented, and are thus stated in the appellant’s brief: “(1) Was the deed from Wilkes and Wells to the defendant such a conveyance that any title to the land therein described, after-wards acquired by the grantors, or either of them, would, by operation of law, pass to the defendant? (2) Did the record of the deed from Wilkes and Wells to the defendant operate as constructive notice of defendant’s right, to the plaintiff, Bernardy, at the time he purchased the land?

It is provided by subdivision 4, § 947, of the Civil Code, that “where a person purports by proper instrument to grant real property in fee simple, and subsequently acquires any title or claim of title thereto, the same passes by operation of law to the grantee or his successors.” This subdivision was copied from the California Civil Code, and makes an important change in the common law upon the subject of after-acquired titles. In the case of Clark v. Baker, 14 Cal. 612, 76 Am. Dec. 449, the Supreme Court of that state, in an exhaustive opinion, arrives at the conclusion that “the thirty third section of the act concerning conveyances changes the rule of the common law as to the effect of deeds under the statute of uses upon subsequently acquired interests of the grantor, and gives them an operation equivalent to the most expressive covenant of warranty.” The court in the opinion further says: [642]*642“The effect, then, of its provisions upon a conveyance of premises in fee * * Ms the same as if it were written upon its face that the grantor conveyed all the estate which he then possessed, or which he might at any time thereafter acquire. ” And the court holds that mortgages are included in the provisions of the section. The thirty-third sec^ ion referred to was subsequently amended to read the same as the section of our Civil Code above quoted, but the section as amended has been treated by the courts of California ■ as substantially the same in effect as the former section. Mr. Deering, in his Annotated California Codes, p. 211, vol. 2, in a note to section 1106, the same as the section of our Code, speaks of the section as a substantial re-enactment of section 83. See, also, San Francisco v. Lawton, 18 Cal. 465, 79 Am. Dec. 187; Lent v. Morrill, 25 Cal. 500; Morrison v. Wilson, 30 Cal. 347; Kirkaldie v. Larrabee, 31 Cal. 457, 89 Am. Dec. 205; Green v. Clark, Id. 593; Cadiz v. Majors, 33 Cal. 289.

We are of the opinion, therefore, that, as the deed from Wilkes to the defendant did purport to grant the property in fee simple, the after-acquired title of Wilkes passed “by operation of law” to the defendant. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Code are clear, definite, and certain, and the deed to the defendant is precisely such a deed as the Code provides shall pass the after-acquired title “by operation of law,” the counsel for the respondent insists that the defendant is not entitled to the benefit of the¡ statute,'for the reason (1) that the defendant did not pay any"'consideration for the property; and (2) that the plaintiff had mo constructive notice of the "defendant’s title when he purchased the same. And this apparently was the view of the court in stating his conclusions of law and. en-[643]*643t-ering judgment in favor of the plaintiff. In the view we take of-the law. neither of these positions can be sustained. In our opinion, there is nothing in the agreed statement of facts that warranted the trial court in holding that there was no consideration for the deed from Wilkes to the defendant. But as we view the case, this is entirely immaterial, as a voluntary conveyance is valid against a subsequent purchaser “with notice, either actual or constructive, of a prior deed. ” By the Civil Code it is provided: “A transfer is an act of the parties or of the law by which title to property is conveyed from one living person to another. A voluntary transfer is an executed contract subject to all the rules of law concerning contracts in general, except that a consideration is not necessary to its validity.” Sections 915, 916, Civ. Code. These sections are copies of sections 458 and 459 of the proposed Civil Code of New York. In their notes to these sections, the commissioners say, in speaking of the clause, “except that a consideration is not necessary to its validity”: “This clause was proposed for enactment in regard to grants of real property by the revisers of 1828, but was not enacted. It is, however, undoubted law both as to real and personal property.” And this seems to be the gem eral rule m this country as to voluntary conveyances. 6 Ency, of Law, pp. 683, 684.. On page 684 the author, under the heading of “Consideration,” says, “In the United States, however, it is held, that a voluntary deed is valid against any subsequent purchaser who buys with notice, whether the notice be actual, or such as the law implies from the recording of the prior deed.” In 14 Ency. of Law, p. 466, the author, under the subject of “Fraudulent Sales,” says, “In the United States the authorities are almost unanimous in holding that a voluntary [644]*644conveyance, if made bona fide, is valid as against, a subsequent purchaser with notice of the conveyance.” In support of this statement of the law, the author cites a large number of authorities. In Walker v. Walker, 35 N. C. 335, the Supreme Court of that state says: “No consideration is necessary in order to give validity to the deed. * * * The general rule is, a deed is valid without a consideration. ” In Jackson v. Cleveland, 15 Mich. 94, 90 Am. Dec.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 N.W. 166, 17 S.D. 637, 1904 S.D. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bernardy-v-colonial-united-states-mortgage-co-sd-1904.