Bjornson v. Rostad

137 N.W. 567, 30 S.D. 40, 1912 S.D. LEXIS 204
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 23, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 137 N.W. 567 (Bjornson v. Rostad) 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
Bjornson v. Rostad, 137 N.W. 567, 30 S.D. 40, 1912 S.D. LEXIS 204 (S.D. 1912).

Opinion

McCOY, P. J.

There was a directed verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and -defendant appeals. On the 18th day -of June, 1907, defendant executed1 and delivered to- plaintiff a warranty deed'o-f a certain quarter s-eotio-n of land in Gregory county, absolute in form, and' containing no ex-ecptions or reservations what-[48]*48so.ever, and reciting 'a consideration "of one dollar and other good and valuable .considerations.” At the time of the execution and delivery of said deed, there was standing and growing on said land an immature crop of wheat that had been sown by defendant ■the spring before. Neither plaintiff nor defendant personally resided upon said land at any of the times in question, there being no buildings thereon; but plaintiff and» defendant resided upon other lands in the same vicinity. When said crop of wheat ripened, the same was, against the will and consent of plaintiff, cut and harvested by defendant and removed to defendant’s premises and stacked thereon. Plaintiff 'thereupon brought this -action in re-plevin to recover the possession of -said wheat, or its value, claiming to be the owner thereof. Defendant denied plaintiff’s right to possession and ownership. On the trial plaintiff offered in evidence the -said deed. Defendant then offered to prove, as a part of his defense, that before the execution of said deed it was agreed that there was some -difference between -the parties relative -to the ownership of -said land; that in settlement of said difference it was agreed that -defendant .should deed said land to plaintiff; and that as a part of the consideration of said deed he should harvest the crops then growing thereon, and should retain the. said crop. To which offer plaintiff objected, on the ground that it was incompetent, immaterial, irrelevant, and not. the best evidence, and sought to change, vary, and modify the terms of said deed. The objection was- sustained, to which ruling of -the -court .defendant duly excepted and now assigns- the same as error.

[ i ] 'Growing crops, of grain are- clearly fructus- industriales— growing things-,produced and.raised by the .industry of man. and the cultivation! ;of the -soil. Sections 186, 187, and 188, ..Civil Code, défining land, clearly exclude growing grain, and only include such growing things as are annexed to the -earth -by roots-, such as are deemed fructus naturales, those which are,produced- -by the powers of .nature.. The Civil Code of California, from which state our Civil Code was adopted, defines land in identical language. Sections 6,58, 659 and 660, Kerr’s Cal. Civ. Code. The -Supreme Count. of ' California -holds that growing ’ crops raised by the ‘ industry of man and the cultivation of the soil are -chattels, and [49]*49that a contract for ‘the sale thereof is noit within the statute of frauds, relating to the sale of an interest in land, and that such crops may be reserved from the operation of a deed by parol. Davis v. McFarlane, 37 Cal. 634, 99 Am. Dec. 340; Vulicevich v. Skinner, 77 Cal. 240, 19 Pac. 424. And it seems to toe so held in many other jurisdictions. Grabow v. McCracken, 23 Okl. 612, 102 Pac. 84, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1218, 18 Ann. Cas. 503, and note; Cooper v. Kennedy, 86 Neb. 122, 124 N. W. 1131, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 761, 136 Am. St. Rep. 701; Baker v. Jordan, 3 Ohio St. 438; Bourne v. Bourne, 92 Ky. 211, 17 S. W. 443; Heavilon v. Heavilon, 29 Ind. 509; Holt v. Holt, 57 Mo. App. 272; Mabry v. Harp, 53 Kan. 398, 36 Pac. 743; Pattison’s Appeal, 61 Pa. 294, 100 Am. Dec. 641; Bloom v. Welsh, 27 N. J. Law, 177; Flynt v. Conrad, 61 N. C. 190, 93 Am. Dec. 588; Simanek v. Nemetz, 120 Wis. 42, 97 N. W. 508; Walton v. Jordan, 65 N. C. 170; Bond v. Coke, 71 N. C. 97; Backenstoss v. Stahler, 33 Pa. 251, 75 Am. Dec. 592. See note 23 B. R. A. 450.

In Backenstoss v. Stahler, supra, the court said: “If i:s a rule of common law that growing crops are personal property, but pass by conveyance as appurtenant to the land, unless severed by reservation or exception; and this -rule has not been altered- by the statute of frauds. A party may show by parol that the growing crops were reserved on the sale of the land, although there may be no exception in the deed.”

In Bloom v. Welsh, supra, the court said: “At common law growing crops raised annually by labor and cultivation are personal property. They may be sold and conveyed, as chattels, by parol. A contract for their sale is not a contract for the sale of an interest in land under the statute of frauds; and the purchaser of growing grain acquires the privilege of leaving the grain upon •the soil until maturity, and also the privilege of enterng to gather •and take .away the crops.”

In Baker v. Jordan, supra, the court said: “That growing grain will pass by common deed of the land's whereon it grows when no valid conversion of it into personalty is shown to have •preceded the conveyance, cannot be doubted. But whether such a [50]*50conveyance always purports to carry the title to growing crops is another question. M'any things may be in or on the ground which the' parties do not intend, and which no inflexible rule of law requires, to fall under the conveyance. Such 'things are realty or personalty, according to the intention of the parties. However little favor should be shown to reservations made by the vendor by parol, when he is in possesion, there must be some such reservations which are valid. It is in such instances a question of intent. Where that intent relates to things which may sometimes be treated as realty and sometimes as personalty, the evidence of its manifestation in the conduct of the parties or in their words, at tlie date of the deed 'does- not seem to' alter, enlarge, or limit their written contract. For, as already observed, the contract does not necessarily embrace such things. The case of a deed, then, is clearly distinguishable from that of many 'other written contracts. What such an instrument purports to convey is to be shown from the legal rules which have assigned to it a definite legal character. And when those rules are attentively considered,-it will be found that the common word's describing the ground conveyed must always leave it an open question whether the growing crops were intended as a part of the thing in which the property was to change. A deed purports to convey the realty. But what is the realty ? Growing corn may be a part of it for some purposes; but if is generally to be 'considered as personalty. If the parties to the deed, either by words or their behavior, signify their understanding that as between them it is a personalty, the law will so regard it, and will respect their intention in the construction of the deed. When, the evidence of such understanding is produced, it is not to contradict the deed, for with that it is perfectly consistent, but it is to show that what in some instances would go with the land as a part of realty was, in that case, converted into1 personalty by the will of the parties, and thus to hold the deed to- its- true meaning and effect.”

In Holt v. Holt, the court said: “The defendant further contends that the deed offered in evidence is conclusively presumed to include the whole contract between the parties thereto. While this [51]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 N.W. 567, 30 S.D. 40, 1912 S.D. LEXIS 204, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bjornson-v-rostad-sd-1912.