Evans v. Robberson

92 Mo. 192
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 15, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 92 Mo. 192 (Evans v. Robberson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. Robberson, 92 Mo. 192 (Mo. 1887).

Opinion

Brace, J.

This was an action in ejectment for the west one-half of the northwest quarter of section 4, township 30, range 22, in Greene county, Missouri. The petition, in usual form, was filed April 14, 1883. The answer of the defendant admitted possession and denied the other allegations of the petition. The case was tried by the court without a jury; verdict and judgment for plaintiff. Both parties claim title under one Theophilus Leathers, who, it was admitted, was the owner of the land at the time of his death in 1857, and who, by will, devised said land to his wife, Elizabeth (who died January 24, 1883), during her life ; remainder in fee to his sons, Edwin R. and John W. Leathers. Plaintiff claims to have acquired all the undivided interest of the said Edwin R. in the said northwest quarter of the southwest quarter, by virtue of a sheriff’s deed dated June 5, 1873, properly acknowledged and recorded March 3, 1883, and the undivided interest of John W. in the west one-half of said northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of the land sued for by a verbal partition, between him and the said John, of said forty-acre tract, and, on the trial, offered said sheriff’s deed in evidence, to which defendant objected, but which was admitted in evidence over his objection. The deed contained the following recitals:

“ Whereas, on the ninth day of May, 1872, judgment was rendered in the circuit court of Greene county in favor of Elisha Headlee, public administrator of Greene county, Missouri, having in charge the estate of Nathan Boone, deceased, and against E. R. Leathers, John Evans, and D. M. Evans, for the sum of two hundred and twenty-nine one-hundredths dollars for debt, and twenty-one and twenty-five one-hundredths dollars [196]*196for damages, and also for costs in said suit, upon which, judgment an execution was issued from the clerk’s office of said court in favor of the said Elisha Headlee, public administrator as aforesaid, and having in charge the estate of said Nathan Boone, deceased, and against the said E. R. Leathers, John Evans, and D. M. Evans, dated the eleventh of January, 1873, directed to the sheriff of Greene county, and the same was to me on said day delivered ; by virtue of which execution I did, on the eleventh day of January, 1873, levy upon and seize all the right, title, interest, and estate of the said E. R. Leathers, John Evans, and D. M. Evans, of, in, and to, the following described real estate, situate in said Greene county, to-wit: the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section four (4), township thirty (30), range twenty-two (22), and, whereas, in pursuance of law, and by virtue of authority in me vested by law as sheriff of said county, I caused said real estate to be advertised, for at least twenty (20) days, before the twenty-second day of February, 1873, giving the time and place of sale and of the real estate to be sold, and where situate, as the law directs, by publication in the Springfield Leader, a newspaper printed and published in my said county of Greene, that I would, on the twenty-second day of February, 1873, that being the sixth day of the February term of said court, offer the above-described real estate, for sale at public auction, at the courthouse door in my said county while said circuit court was in session, between the £ lawful hours ’ of said day, for cash in hand, and, whereas, by an act of the legislature* approved January 18, 1873, the time of holding the said February term of said circuit court of Greene county, for the year 1873, was changed from the third Monday in February to the first Monday in May, 1873, and, whereas, I did, on the first day of the said May term, 1873, of said circuit court, that being the first term of said court held in pursuance of the said [197]*197change of time of holding the same, made by the act of the legislature aforesaid, put up a written notice, that I would, by virtue of law and the said judgment and execution, on Saturday, the tenth of May, 1878, that being the sixth day of the said May term, and the said day of the term that said sale was advertised to take place at said previous February term, sell said real estate above described; and in said notice, I specified the names of the parties to said execution, the list of the property sold, and stated the fact that said property had been previously advertised, giving the name of the paper and its date; and, whereas, by virtue of authority in me vested, I did, on the tenth day of May, 1873, whilst the circuit court was in session, and between the hours of nine o’clock in the forenoon and five o’clock in the afternoon of that day, expose to sale said real estate at public vendue to the highest bidder, at the courthouse door of my said county, and at said sale D. M. Evans, being the' highest and best bidder for said real estate,” etc.

It is contended for the appellant that the recital in said deed, that the real estate was advertised to be sold between the “lawful hours” of the day upon which it was to be sold, renders it invalid. There is nothing in this contention. It was the duty of the sheriff to designate the day upon which the land would be sold in his •advertisement; the law fixed the hours of that day between which it must be sold, arid whilst it was not necessary that the hours should be stated in the advertisement it was the duty of the sheriff to sell between those hours (1 W. S., p. 610, sec. 45), and the recital in the deed shows that the sheriff did sell the land between the hours of nine a. m. and five p. m., as the law required.

It is next objected to said deed that it does not appear that the notice therein recited was put up “at the front door of the courthouse.” The law governing the caséis as follows: “In all cases where the times of [198]*198holding the terms of the several courts of this state shall be changed by the legislature, all sales of property which would have been made at the terms previously established by law shall be made at the first term of the court to be held in pursuance of such change, and where such sales have been advertised to be made on any day of such previously-established term, to satisfy any execution returnable thereto, * * * the, sale shall be made on the same day of the term held in pursuance of the change aforesaid and no second advertisement of such sale shall be necessary, but it shall be the duty of the sheriff having in charge the execution aforesaid to put up at the front door of the courthouse of the proper county on or before the first day of the changed term, a list of the property to be sold, specifying the names of the parties, the property to be sold, and the day of sale, and stating the fact that said property has been previously advertised, giving the name of the paper and its date.” G. S. 1865, p. 541, sec. 44.

It will be observed that the recitals in the deed show a compliance with the requirements of the law in every particular, except in that it does not thereby affirmatively appear that the notice was put up “at the front door of the courthouse.” There is nothing in the deed that tends to negative, or is inconsistent with, the idea, that in fact the notice was put up at the front door of the courthouse, and it is to be presumed that the officer in this respect discharged his duty. It is the policy of the law that every reasonable presumption should be indulged in favor of sustaining the ministerial acts of officers making judicial sales ; besides, the advertisement designated the day of the February term on which the land would be sold, the law required that it should be sold on the same day of the next changed term.

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

Related

Norma Mining Co. v. Mackay
258 F. 914 (Ninth Circuit, 1919)
Taff v. Tallman
209 S.W. 868 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1919)
Keaton v. Jorndt
168 S.W. 734 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1914)
Blair v. Guaranty Savings, Loan & Investment Co.
118 S.W. 608 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1909)
Charter Oak Land & Lumber Co. v. Bippus
98 S.W. 546 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1906)
Manwaring v. Missouri Lumber & Mining Co.
98 S.W. 762 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1906)
Stuart v. Ramsey
95 S.W. 382 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1906)
Wood v. Smith
91 S.W. 85 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1906)
Schnitger v. Rankin
91 S.W. 122 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1905)
Weir v. Cordz-Fisher Lumber Co.
85 S.W. 341 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1905)
Holladay-Klotz Land & Lumber Co v. T. J. Moss Tie Co.
87 Mo. App. 167 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1901)
City of St. Joseph ex rel. Forsee v. Baker
86 Mo. App. 310 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1900)
Blevins v. Smith
104 Mo. 583 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1891)
Allen v. Ray
96 Mo. 542 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1888)
Powell v. Greenstreet
95 Mo. 13 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1888)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 Mo. 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-robberson-mo-1887.