Bryson v. McCreary

1 N.E. 55, 102 Ind. 1, 1885 Ind. LEXIS 1
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1885
DocketNo. 11,223
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 1 N.E. 55 (Bryson v. McCreary) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryson v. McCreary, 1 N.E. 55, 102 Ind. 1, 1885 Ind. LEXIS 1 (Ind. 1885).

Opinion

Zollars, C. J.

The pleadings present this state of facts: George W. Bryson, appellant’s husband, being the owner of real estate, and indebted to one Harris, in 1878, appellant joining, mortgaged the real estate to Harris to secure the indebtedness. On the 16th day of March, 1880, the mortgage was foreclosed, and on the 24th day of April, 1880, the real estate was sold for the full amount of the judgment, and was [3]*3worth that amount. The purchaser, for value, transferred the sheriff’s certificate to one Thomas F. McCreary. A short time before the foreclosure, the husband had given to appellant, for her own separate use and maintenance, the use and rents of a mill situated upon and a. part of the real estate sold under the decree. On the 10th day of March, 1880, which was also before the foreclosure, appellant leased the mill to appellee at a stipulated rent. After Thomas McCreary became the owner of the sheriff’s certificate, he notified appellee to pay the rent to him and not to appellant. The real estate not having been redeemed, Thomas F. McCreary received the sheriff’s deed in 1882. Up to the time of the notice, appellee paid the agreed rent to appellant. Subsequent to that notice, he paid the rent to Thomas F. McCreary.

Appellant instituted this action to recover from appelleethe amount of the agreed rent during the year allowed by1 law for redemption.

Is she entitled to recover, as against appellee, and against the claims of Thomas F. McCreary? Appellant’s contention is that her rights are to be determined under the redemption law of 1861, 2 R. S. 1876, p. 220, because the mortgage was executed while that law was in force, and before the redemption law of 1879, Acts 1879, p. 176, took effect, and that to apply the latter law would bring it in conflict with section 10, of article 1, of the Constitution of the-United States, which prohibits the States from passing layra impairing the obligation of contracts, and section 24 of the-bill of rights in the Constitution of the State which' also prohibits the passage of any law impairing the obligation of' contracts. Appellee contends that the rights of the parties must be settled under the law of 1879, and that under that law appellant can not recover. Both acts provided that the owner of real estate sold on execution, and other persons named, might redeem the same within a year after the sale. Upon the subject of possession during the year, and the liability for rents, the act of 1861 provided as follows: “The [4]*4judgment debtor shall be entitled to the possession of the premises for one year after the sale, and in case they are not redeemed at the end of the year as provided in this act, he shall be liable to the purchaser for their reasonable rents and profits.” The rulings under this statute, and in the interpretation of it, may be- classed as follows:

1st. Neither the tenant nor grantee of the judgment debtor, nor any one else except the judgment debtor, could ,be held liable to the execution purchaser for the rent of the real estate during the year allowed for redemption. Clements v. Robinson, 54 Ind. 599; Powell v. DeHart, 55 Ind. 94; Murphy v. Teter, 56 Ind. 545; Wilson v. Powers, 66 Ind. 75; Graves v. Kent, 67 Ind. 38; Ridgeway v. First Nat’l Bank, 78 Ind. 119.

2d. The rents and profits of the real estate were the property of the judgment debtor, and he might rent the property and collect the rents; they might be levied on and sold as his, or he might assign them or otherwise dispose of them. In cither of which cases the execution purchaser could not recover against the tenant, purchaser or assignee of the rents. Ridgeway v. First Nat’l Bank, supra; Favorite v. Deardorff, 84 Ind. 555.

3d. Having collected the rent during the year allowed for redemption, the judgment debtor did not hold them either as the tenant or trustee of the execution purchaser. Ridgeway v. First Nat’l Bank, supra..

4th. On the other hand, it was held that if a tenant, or the heirs of an insolvent owner of real estate, who was the judgment debtor, were in possession of the real estate, and the property was not sufficient in value to pay the judgment, or was going to waste, and taxes were delinquent, a receiver might be appointed to collect the rents during the year allowed for redemption, and hold ■'hem to be paid to the execution purchaser in case the real esuate should not be redeemed. Connelly v. Dickson, 76 Ind. 440; Brinkman v. Ritzinger, 82 [5]*5Ind. 358; Travellers Ins. Co. v. Brouse, 83 Ind. 62 Buchanan v. Berkshire Life Ins. Co., 96 Ind. 510.

5th. And so it was held, that if the judgment debtor had made an assignment under the voluntary assignment law, the assignee might be compelled to pay over to the execution purchaser the rents that he might have collected during the year allowed for redemption. Davis v. Newcomb, 72 Ind. 413.

6th. And so, too, it was ruled, that in case the judgment debtor did not redeem, he was liable to the execution purchaser for the rents and profits, regardless of the statutory liability; that an action would lie at common law, and under 2 R. S. 1876, p. 342, section 14, which provided that “The occupant without special contract, of any lands, shall be liable for the rent, to any person entitled thereto.” This was based upon the idea that the title of the purchaser by the sheriff’s-deed relates back to the time of the sale. Gale v. Parks, 58 Ind. 117.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize the reasoning in these several classes of cases. None of them have been expi’essly overruled. There has been an effort, rather, to distinguish and limit. The reasoning in some of them, however, has been approved, and again condemned.

In the case of Gale v. Parks, last above, it will be noticed that no reference is made to the earlier cases. This case is. not referred to in the case of Wilson v. Powers, supra, but it is there held, citing the earlier cases, that there is no liability except as fixed by statute, and that under the statute no one except the judgment debtor'was liable to the purchaser for the rents.

In the case of Graves v. Kent, supra, the case of Gale v. Parks, supra, is referred to, and while there is an effort to distinguish, the ruling is contrary to the doctrine of it. In the case of Davis v. Newcomb, supra, the case is cited and approved. Again, in the case of Ridgeway v. First Nat’l Bank, supra, an effort is made to distinguish and limit the case, but the doctrine of the case, that the purchaser may recover on [6]*6the doctrine of relation, is strongly combatted and repudiated by a majority of the court.' So far as the case holds that the execution purchaser might recover independently of the statute, it should be regarded as overruled by the above cases.

In the case of Davis v. Newcomb, supra, conceding that under the cases the possession of the judgment debtor could not be disturbed, and that he had the right to dispose of the rents, it was held that the execution purchaser, as against other creditors, was entitled to the rents collected during the year allowed for redemption, by the assignee of the judgment debtor under the voluntary assignment laws.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

City of Indianapolis v. Robison
117 N.E. 861 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1917)
Adams v. Iten Biscuit Co.
1917 OK 47 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1917)
Ex parte France
95 N.E. 515 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1911)
Rexing v. Princeton Window Glass Co.
94 N.E. 1031 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1911)
Ryason v. Dunten
73 N.E. 74 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1905)
Clarke v. Darr
60 N.E. 688 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1901)
State v. Thayer
58 S.W. 12 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1900)
Burget v. Merritt
57 N.E. 714 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1900)
World Building, Loan & Investment Co. v. Marlin
52 N.E. 198 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1898)
Jenckes v. Jenckes
44 N.E. 632 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1896)
Dowell v. Talbot Paving Co.
38 N.E. 389 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1894)
Templeton v. Linn County
15 L.R.A. 730 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1892)
Merritt v. Gibson
15 L.R.A. 277 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1891)
Farmers Loan & Trust Co. v. Canada & St. Louis Railway Co.
11 L.R.A. 740 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1891)
Moore v. City of Indianapolis
22 N.E. 424 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1889)
Rupert v. Martz
18 N.E. 381 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1888)
Davis v. Rupe
17 N.E. 163 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1888)
Coggeshall v. State ex rel. Corder
14 N.E. 555 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1887)
Warren v. Sohn
13 N.E. 863 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1887)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 N.E. 55, 102 Ind. 1, 1885 Ind. LEXIS 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryson-v-mccreary-ind-1885.