Cravens v. Wilson

48 Tex. 324
Texas Supreme Court·Decided July 1, 1877·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Tignal W. Jones, Special Justice.

The verdict and judgment in the court below, in this case, are in favor of William Cravens, the defendant, against M. J. Wilson, the plaintiff and in favor of Benjamin Wilson, the intervenor, against William Cravens, the defendant, for the land in controversy, and the rents and profits thereof.

William Cravens made a motion for a new trial, as against the intervenor, and the motion having been overruled by the court, has brought the case to this court by writ of error, making M. J. Wilson one of the defendants in error.

M. J. Wilson seems to have acquiesced in the judgment in favor of Cravens against him; and but for the fact that he has assigned errors, and has appeared by counsel in this court, and filed his briefs, he might have been supposed to have passed entirely out of the case. We shall notice but' one of the errors assigned by him.

It is unnecessary to notice this, as the question presented by it is not an open question in this court. But it has been-very zealously, and we may add ably, pressed, in argument by counsel in their briefs, and therefore we think it but right to consider it, so that it may not embarrass the case on a future trial in the court below, should there be another trial.

The assignment to which we refer, is, substantially, that there is error in the portion of the charge of the court in which the jury is instructed that the lien of William Cravens’ judgment, rendered on 1st of January, 1867, on the-Domingo Gonzales tract of land, in Shelby county, Texas, was not lost by reason of the failure of the plaintiff in that judgment to have execution issued within twelve months-from the rendition of judgment.

The record shows, that execution was not issued on Cravens’ judgment until the 23d day of March, 1868, more than, a year after the rendition of the judgment.

From the time this judgment was rendered, until the 24th-of February, 1868, the Stay law of 1866 was in force; so that execution could not have been issued but a few days before [338]*338it was issued, without disregarding the Stay law. On the 24th of February, 1868, this court decided the Stay law of 1866 to be unconstitutional. (Jones v. McMahan, 30 Tex., 719; Luter v. Hunter, 30 Tex., 688.)

These decisions doubtless gave rise to the belief, that the judgment of Cravens had lost its lien on the land in controversy, by reason of the failure of Cravens to have execution issued within twelve months from its rendition.

But this court has, as we think, settled the question, that a judgment rendered in 1865 or 1866 did not lose its lien on land, when execution was issued within the year from the -decision of this court declaring the Stay law of 1866 unconstitutional. In Phillips v. Lesser, 32 Tex., 741; Sessums v. Botts, 34 Tex., 335; and Cravens v. Wilson, 35 Tex., 52, this court has decided, that notwithstanding the Stay law of 1866 was unconstitutional, the practical effect of that law was to excuse the failure to have executions issued on judgments rendered during the years 1865 and 1866 within the year from their rendition; and that the liens of all such judgments have been preserved, where executions were first issued upon them within the year from the 24th of February, 1868, the date when the Stay law of 1866 was decided by this court to be unconstitutional. And in Black v. Epperson, 40 Tex., 185, these decisions are referred to with approbation by this court. As has been seen, Cravens’ execution was issued on the 23d day of March, 1868, less than a month after the Stay law of 1866 was declared to be unconstitutional. So that there can be no question, that the judgment of Cravens had not lost its lien on the land in dispute at the time his execution was levied on it; and being prior in date to the judgment of M. J. Wilson, it was a prior lien on the land.

The plaintiff in error has assigned quite a number of errors. We shall, however, notice only three of them. They are: 1st. As to the portion of the charge of the court in reference to the levy of the attachment on a sufficient quantity of cotton in the seed belonging to Benjamin Wilson, the defendant in [339]*339the attachment, to satisfy the debt of William Cravens, being a satisfaction or extinguishment of the debt, unless the evidence showed that the cotton had been left by the sheriff on the premises in custody of the defendant in the attachment, &c. 2d. As to the portion of the charge instructing the jury in regard to the character of their verdict, in case they should find for the intervenor against the defendant. 3d. As to the verdict of the jury, and the judgment of the court thereon, as between the intervenor and defendant.

The first of these three assignments of error is well taken. If the writ levied by the sheriff on the 60,000 pounds of seed cotton had been an execution, instead of an attachment, the portion of the charge assigned as erroneous would have been correct.

In the case of Garner v. Cutler, 28 Tex., 176, it is decided, by this court, that a levy of an execution on personal property is, as a general rule, prima-fatie evidence of satisfaction of the execution, but that this presumption does not arise when possession of the property remains with the defendant in execution. (See, also, Cornelius v. Burford, 28 Tex., 202, in which the same principle is asserted.)

But this principle does not apply to the levy of an attachment on personal property. The writ of attachment merely creates a lien on the property attached, that may be lost by a dissolution of the attachment. (Drake on Attachments, sec. 224.) So if the attachment is not foreclosed by the judgment in the case, the lien created by it is lost. (Id., sec. 228.) Again, the author lays down the law in regard to levies on personal property by writs of attachment, in ex press terms to be different from that which applies to levies of executions on the same species of property. He says the levy of an attachment is no satisfaction of the plaintiff’s demand, as that of an execution is under same circumstances. (Id., sec. 222.)

It is manifest, therefore, that this portion of the charge is erroneous.

[340]*340The second of the three assignments in regard to the portion of the charge in which the court directs the jury as to the character of their verdict, in case they find for the intervenor, Benjamin Wilson, against the defendant, Cravens, is likewise well taken.

If the sheriff was guilty of irregularities in the sale of the land under Cravens’ execution, whereby the land did not sell for as much as it was worth, the intervenor, Benjamin Wilson, who was defendant in the execution, being interested in his land selling at its highest market value, had the right to have the sale set aside. (Owen v. City of Savasota, 44 Tex., 518; Borer on Judicial Sales, secs. 862, 863.) He could proceed by motion in' the court from which the execution emanated, giving notice to the purchaser, by a distinct suit for that purpose, or by plea of intervention, as in this case. (See authorities above quoted.)

The evidence in this case clearly shows that the officer selling the land under Cravens’ execution was guilty of very great irregularity or misconduct in having the notices of the sale previous to the day of sale tom down, and in announcing publicly at- Center, where the property was sold, and privately to several persons on the day of sale, that the land would not be sold.

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Cravens v. Wilson, 48 Tex. 324 (Tex. 1877).

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