Durden v. Phillips

144 S.E. 313, 166 Ga. 689, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 379
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 15, 1928
DocketNo. 6624
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 144 S.E. 313 (Durden v. Phillips) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Durden v. Phillips, 144 S.E. 313, 166 Ga. 689, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 379 (Ga. 1928).

Opinion

Hines, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.)

Did the court below err in admitting in evidence against petitioner the deed from the trustee in bankruptcy of G. E. and E. H. [693]*693Phillips, to the defendants, to the land in dispute, over her objection that the same was not accompanied by the order of the bankruptcy court authorizing the trustee to sell this land ? A deed purporting on its face to have been made by'the guardian of a minor, under authority of a decree of the superior court, is inadmissible in evidence without the production of the decree or a certified copy of it. McCamy v. Higdon, 50 Ga. 629. Where one claims title to land under an administrator’s deed, pursuant to a sale made under an order from the ordinary, he must show the order granting the administrator leave to sell the land. Clements v. Henderson, 4 Ga. 148 (48 Am. D. 216); Yahoola River &c. Co. v. Irby, 40 Ga. 479 (3); Waller v. Hogan, 114 Ga. 383 (40 S. E. 254); Brown v. Madden, 141 Ga. 419 (2) (81 S. E. 196); Hilton &c. Lumber Co. v. Alwood, 141 Ga. 653 (3) (81 S. E. 1119); Pendergrass v. Hardman, 157 Ga. 579 (121 S. E. 808). The mere recital in a deed that an order to sell was granted is not sufficient. Waller v. Hogan and Brown v. Madden, supra. By parity of reasoning, the deed of a trustee in bankruptcy, made under an order of the court of bankruptcy, is inadmissible as a muniment of title, unless it is accompanied by the order. So a deed from assignees in bankruptcy has been held not evidence of title, unless there is introduced enough of the record of the bankruptcy court to show authority for its execution, and that the court had jurisdiction of the person whose property is directed to be conveyed, and of the subject matter. Despard v. Pearcy, 65 W. Va. 146 (63 S. E. 871); Brown v. White, 153 Ky. 452 (136 S. W. 96); 7 C. J. 238, § 375, 10. So we are of the opinion that the trial judge erred in admitting this trustee’s deed over the objection of petitioner that it was inadmissible without an order of the bankruptcy court authorizing the trustee to make the sale. The question involved upon the hearing of the application for temporary injunction being one of title, and the right to the injunction not depending upon the mala fides of the defendants in entering upon the lands in dispute, such deed was not admissible upon the issue of mala fides vel non, title by prescription being in no way involved.

It is insisted by counsel for the defendants that the trial judge did right in refusing an injunction, upon the ground that the petitioner claimed title to the land in dispute under tax sales which were void because the levies of the tax fi. fas. under which [694]*694the sales were made were excessive. E. H. Phillips owned a life-estate in a tract of land containing 350 acres, more or less, and held the remainder in trust for such of his children as might be living at the time of his death. A tax fi. fa. issued against him for his taxes for the year 1922, which amounted to $161.83, with interest and costs. This fi. fa. was levied on 100 acres of the above land, which was advertised and sold on March 6, 1923, and was bid in by Treutlen County for the sum of $187.31. On that day the sheriff executed to the county a deed to said tract of 100 acres. A tax fi. fa. issued against said Phillips for $113.61, for State, county, and school taxes for the year 1924, with interest from date, and costs. This tax fi. fa. was levied upon 50 acres of the above tract of 350 acres. The dwelling house was located upon these 50 acres. This tract of 50 acres was advertised and sold on May 5, 1925, when it was bid in by the county for the sum of $138.21. The sheriff on said date executed to the county a deed to this tract of 50 acres. A tax fi. fa. issued against Phillips for his State, county, and school taxes for the year 1925, amounting to'$115.81, with interest and costs. This fi. fa. was levied upon 50 acres of the above tract of 350 acres. This tract of 50 acres was advertised and sold under said levy on May 4, 1926, when it was bid in by the county for the sum of $140.59; and the sheriff executed to the county a deed to the same.

On the hearing of the application for injunction, C. P. Phillips, one of the defendants, testified that these tracts of land were worth, when sold for taxes, $25 per acre, that they were susceptible of division, and a less acreage could have been carved out without damage to the remainder. There is in the record no other evidence relating to the value of these tracts of land, except the prices at which they sold at the tax sales. There is no evidence relating to the value of the life-estate of E. H. Phillips in these three tracts of land, except the price his life-estate in the whole tract brought at the trustee’s sale. It appears that E. H. Phillips had reached old' age. His life-estate in the tract of land from which the tracts sold for his taxes were carved was sold on February 16, 1926, by his trustee in bankruptcy, as containing 250 acres, to H. L., J. R., and C. P. Phillips, for the sum of $500, or at the rate of $2 per acre. The tax executions were issued against E. H. Phillips in personam. Life-tenants, and those who own and enjoy the property, are charge[695]*695able with the tax thereon. Civil Code, § 1018; Austell v. Swann, 74 Ga. 278; Justice v. Parnin, 130 Ga. 869 (61 S. E. 1044); Wright v. Central &c. Ry. Co., 146 Ga. 406 (91 S. E. 471). Whether the levies of these tax executions were excessive or not depends upon the value of the life-estate of Phillips in the tracts levied on and sold under the tax executions, although the levies were upon the entire interest in these lands. The facts appearing in the record, other than the price of the life-estate in the entire tract, do not show the value of his life-estate in these tracts, nor do they furnish the necessary data from which such value can be ascertained. In these circumstances it can not be held that the tax sales were void because the levies were excessive. Besides, petitioner does not rely upon these tax sales alone to establish her title to the premises in dispute. She relies upon a deed from E. H. Phillips and others to her to these premises; and as both petitioner and the defendants claim under a common grantor, the burden rests upon the defendants of showing that they acquired from E. H. Phillips a title superior to that acquired by petitioner from him. The defendants recognized that this burden rested upon them, and undertook to carry it by showing that they had acquired title to these premises from the trustee in bankruptcy of Phillips, and that 'this title was superior to the title acquired by petitioner from him. But as they failed to show any authority for the sale by the trustee, they failed to show a title superior to that of petitioner.

Moreover, the county acquired title to two of the tracts sold at tax sales, one of 100 acres, and the other of 50 acres, prior to the title acquired by the defendants under the trustee’s deed. If the sales of these two tracts are not void because the levies were excessive, and they do not so appear from the facts appearing in the present record, then the title of the county to these two tracts is superior to that of the defendants.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 S.E. 313, 166 Ga. 689, 1928 Ga. LEXIS 379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/durden-v-phillips-ga-1928.