French Lumbering Co. v. Theriault

51 L.R.A. 910, 83 N.W. 927, 107 Wis. 627, 1900 Wisc. LEXIS 290
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 51 L.R.A. 910 (French Lumbering Co. v. Theriault) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
French Lumbering Co. v. Theriault, 51 L.R.A. 910, 83 N.W. 927, 107 Wis. 627, 1900 Wisc. LEXIS 290 (Wis. 1900).

Opinion

Maeshall, J.

Sec. 2902, Stats. 1898, is to the effect that a money judgment, when docketed as provided by law, shall, for a period expiring ten years from the date of the rendition thereof, be a lien on the real property of the judgment debtor, except his homestead, in the county where the same is docketed. If the real estate which respondent seeks to reach in this action was the property of Lavoie, within the meaning of that section, when the judgment against him was docketed it obviously became a lien thereon. Sec. 2978 provides that after the expiration of one year from the [630]*630death of a judgment debtor, execution may be issued by permission of the court or the judge thereof upon good cause shown, against any property upon which such judgment, shall have been a lien at the time of the death of such debtor, and may be executed in the same manner and with the same-effect as if he were living. According to the complaint, plaintiff was a judgment creditor of Lavoie when he died. All the facts exist and are properly alleged in the complaint requisite to the maintenance of the action to remove the apparent impediment to respondent’s judgment lien, created by the deed of Lavoie to Theriault made prior to-the rendition of the judgment, if, notwithstanding such deed, such judgment was in fact, at the time of the death of the grantor, a specific lien upon the land. It is conceded that, if the lien did not exist by virtue of the judgment alone, none was acquired by the execution issued thereon after Lavoie’s death, because in that event the execution was wholly unauthorized by law and void.

From what has preceded this is the first question to be solved in reviewing the decision of the circuit court overruling the demurrer to the complaint: Is a judgment, properly docketed in the county where real estate is located which the judgment debtor previously owned but before such docketing conveyed to another, a lien on such real estate if such conveyance is void under sec. 2320, Stats. 1898? That section provides that: “Every conveyance or assignment, in writing or otherwise, of any estate or interest in lands, . . . made with the intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors or other persons of their lawful actions, damages, forfeitures, debts or demands . . . shall be void.” The learned counsel for respondent contend that the word “ void ” in the section means absolutely void; that as regards a person circumstanced as plaintiff was when La-voie made his deed to Theriault, the title to the property attempted to be conveyed remains entirely unaffected by [631]*631such attempt; and that the judgment attaches to and becomes a lien thereon accordingly. That such is the law in many and perhaps most jurisdictions, and is so laid down by many and perhaps most if not all of the elementary writers, as contended by the learned counsel for respondent, possibly cannot be successfully denied. But that the law is to the contrary as declared by this court as early at least as Hyde v. Chapman, 33 Wis. 391, decided in 1873, certainly cannot be gainsaid. The doctrine of that case was fully considered and approved by this- court in Gilbert v. Stockman, 81 Wis. 602, decided in 1892. True, the decision there was made by a divided court, but that hardly takes much from its force as regards what the law is for this state, since it has existed for over a quarter of a century and necessarily has become by that lapse of time a rule of property. We are not unconscious at all of the force of the attack now made upon the doctrine of this court. It is but *a renewal of the attack made in Gilbert v. Stockman, where, notwithstanding strong judicial opposition, as indicated by the able and exhaustive dissenting opinion written by Mr. Justice PiNNey, concurred in by Mr. Justice WiNslow, the early view of the law declared in Hyde v. Chapman was adhered to. It is needless to speculate now upon how the court would then have decided or as present constituted would decide if the question were presented as an original proposition. It will be readily admitted that the law of the state, as declared by its highest court, upon a careful consideration of the subject involved, should not be changed without some very strong reason therefor. A mere change in the personnel of the bench, and of individual opinions of judges, is not. sufficient; and when the law as so declared has remained undisturbed for a long period of time, for example, twenty-five years or more, and necessarily become a rule of property, it should not be changed at all by mere judicial declaration. Under such circumstances courts [632]*632must follow the maxim, “ Stare decisis, et non quieta movere.” (To adhere to decisions, and not disturb questions that have been established.) • ,

The foregoing renders unnecessary any attempt even to review the able argument of counsel for respondent, by which the idea was vigorously pressed upon our attention and consideration that the word “ void ” in sec. 2320 means absolutely void as to creditors, and that a judgment against the fraudulent vendor attaches to the property fraudulently conveyed regardless of the conveyance. It is sufficient to say that the contrary is the law of this state and that it is so firmly entrenched in our jurisprudence as not to be open to question. However, it is deemed best not to dismiss the subject without correcting the error counsel seems to have fallen into, that Gilbert v. Stockman, 81 Wis. 602, and Hyde v. Chapman, 33 Wis. 391, are out of harmony with other cases decided by this court. In endeavoring to make such correction we shall not attempt to defend the reasoning of prior decisions, but merely state the facts and conclusions of each case, treating the results as not now open to question.

In Eastman v. Schettler, 13 Wis. 325, upon which great reliance is placed to support the attack on Gilbert v. Stockman, it will be noted that, while the court said arguendo that ‘if the conveyance of the land was made with intent to defraud the judgment creditor it was void and the judgment became a lien upon it,’ the court was not speaking of the effect of the judgment by itself, but its effect under the circumstances of that case, which were that it had been enforced by a seizure of the realty in question (so far as such a seizure can. take place under an execution), a sale thereof under the execution, and the perfection of the sale by the making and delivering of a deed to the purchaser. Under those circumstances it was said that the purchaser could maintain an action to recover the land, because the deed [633]*633conveyed to him the title thereto regardless of the fraudulent conveyance o£ the property prior to the rendition of the judgment.

In the Gilbert Case the rule of the Eastman Case was limited to its facts upon the theory that the proceedings under the execution created a lien upon the property, but that none existed before the levy under the execution, which is in harmony with the cases that uphold the right to proceed in equity in aid of an execution levy upon land which has been conveyed by the judgment debtor in fraud of his creditors but deny the right in the absence of such levy, because, while the judgment of itself is not a lien upon the property, a lien thereon may be acquired by seizure thereof under the execution issued on the judgment.

In Cornell v. Radway, 22 Wis. 260, the sheriff had levied upon the property and advertised it for sale under an execution issued on the judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
51 L.R.A. 910, 83 N.W. 927, 107 Wis. 627, 1900 Wisc. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/french-lumbering-co-v-theriault-wis-1900.