Dail Bro. v. . Freeman

92 N.C. 351
Supreme Court of North Carolina·Decided February 5, 1885·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Ashe, J.

(after stating the facts). There is no error in the

ruling of His Honor in refusing the instruction asked by the plaintiff, nor in rejecting the issue tendered by him, for the reason they were not such as were warranted by the pleadings or the facts of the case. Nor are we able to discover any error in the instruction given by His Honor to the jury, which could have operated to the prejudice of the defendant.

The defendant claimed the land on which the two bales of cotton were raised in 1878, by a sheriff’s deed made to him, by virtue of a sale of the land under an execution on the 30th of *355 August, 1878, issued by leave of the court upon a judgment rendered the 10th of January, 1874. The defendant then acquired the interest, whatever it was, of W. F. Williams, the defendant in the execution, and this would have given him the right to the rent of the land for that year accruing after the sale, or, at least, the right to recover for the use and occupation for that term, unless there was something done by the defendant in the execution previous to the sale which prevented his said rights from attaching.

The purchaser under an execution takes all that belongs to the debtor and nothing more; a. greater estate or interest than the debtor owned cannot be conveyed. Herman on Executions, sec. 360.

hiere, Hart-was the vendee of Williams, the defendant in the execution, by a parol contract of purchase — he had paid a part of the purchase money, and was put into possession of the land by Williams, and continued to hold possession by his consent to the time of the sale by the sheriff. He was only the tenant at sufferance of Williams, who had the right to deprive him of the possession at any time upon a reasonable notice. But he did not exercise the right, and until he should see proper to do so, Hart was rightfully in possession, and being so, he executed in March, 1878, the two agricultural liens upon his crops to be raised on the land during the year 1878, which were duly registered, and thus gave notice to everybody.

Williams the vendor, therefore, had notice, and not objecting, his assent to the lien given by Hart must be presumed. Hart then, so far as Williams was concerned,, had the right to give the liens, and they conveyed a vested right to the plaintiffs in the crops to be made during the year 1878, as fully and effectually as if they had been given by Williams himself; and if they had been given by him, would the purchaser of the land at the sale under execution divest the rights of the plaintiffs acquired by the agricultural liens? We are of the opinion, it would not. It is true where there is a judgment lien upon land, *356 a sale under execution issued upon sucli judgment will pass to the purchaser all the rights and interests of the defendant in the execution, and when he obtains the deed of the sheriff, it will relate to the rendition of the judgment, so as to defeat all conveyances and incumbrances upon the land subsequently made. But this relation has no other effect than to defeat such aliena-tions and incumbrances, made subsequent to the rendition of the judgment, upon the land itself. It has no application to the products or profits of the land arising or accruing in the interval between the judgment and the sale. If that were so, the purchaser at an execution sale under a judgment several years old might receive the rents accruing during all that time; but the reason he cannot do so, is because the judgment lien on land constitutes no property or right in the land itself: A judgment creditor has no jus in re nor jus ad rem in the defendant’s land, but a mere right to make' his general lien effectual by following up the steps of the law, and consummating his judgment by an execution and sale of the land. Freeman on Judgments, see. 338, and Herman on Executions, seo. 335; And the only effect of the relation of a sheriff’s deed to the judgment is to preserve and make effectual the lien of the judgment under which the execution sale was made. Freeman on Executions, seo. 333. Eor any other purpose his deed only relates to the day of sale. It vests the title of the land in the purchaser only from the time of the sale. Davidson v. Frew, 3 Dev., 3; Hoke v. Henderson, Ibid., 12. And only such interest as the defendant in the execution has in the property levied upon and sold, whether real or personal, passes by the sheriff’s sale. Homesley v. Hogue, 4 Jones, 481. Hence, although the purchaser, at execution sale, acquires the right to the rents accruing at and after the time of sale, by purchasing the reversion when the land is in possession of a lessee, if the defendant in the execution has no right to them at the time of sale, the purchaser acquires no right. Here, Williams had no right to the rents or crop, nor claim for use and occupation, at the date of the lien or at the time of the sale. He had *357 no such interest as could be passed by the sale. Hart was his vendee, it is true, only by a parol contract; but it was still a valid contract, unless Williams should see proper to make it void by setting up the statute of frauds. Until that should be done, Hart was in possession lawfully as vendee, -and was his tenant at sufferance, and as such was entitled to the rents and profits of the land. Wellborn v. Simonton, 88 N. C., 266; Pearsall v. Mayers, 64 N. C., 549. If he was entitled to the rents, he was, of course, entitled to the crops, and consequently had the right to give a lien on them for advances to enable him to make them.

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