Hanger & Moody v. State

27 Ark. 667
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 15, 1872
StatusPublished

This text of 27 Ark. 667 (Hanger & Moody v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanger & Moody v. State, 27 Ark. 667 (Ark. 1872).

Opinion

Rennistt, J.

The bill, in this case, is brought to foi’eelose a mortgage given by Thomas Thorn to secure the' payment of a stock bond executed by Thom to the Real Estate Bank of the State of Arkansas, and to subject certain lands, therein described, to the payment of a debt, which, as is alleged, was secured by said mortgage.

By the bill, it appears that one David Fulton, subscribed for one hundred shares of the capital stock of the Real Estate Bank. That, on the 16th day of September, 1837, the proper officers of the bank awarded to said Fulton seventy-two shares of said capital stock, whereby he became a stockholder in the bank to that number of shares; that, on the 16th day of May, 1840, on his application, and the written request of Thomas Thorn, his stock was transferred to said Thom, who furnished and executed the mortgage exhibited in the bill. This deed of mortgage recites that, on the 16th day of May, 1840, Thomas Thorn executed his bond, to be due on the 26th day of October, 1861, and-payable to the bank for the sum of seven thousand and two hundred dollars, with interest at the rate of five per cent., payable half yearly. The bond was executed for stock subscribed as aforesaid. The mortgage was conditioned, that if the said Thorn or his assigns should pay all such sums of money as he might receive from the bank, on account of stock and the interest thereon, and should pay to whom it might be due, so much or such sum of bonds of the State, issued in favor of said bank and the interest thereon, or so much as would be equal to the stock allowed; and, also, should pay the bond in said deed recited, and the interest thereon, then the deed to be void. That, by virtue of being a stockholder in the bank, Thorn obtained stock loans; that the said Thorn has not paid or caused lo be paid his'proportion of the bonds of the State issued to the State; nor has he paid the bond above described, nor the interest on the same.

Peter Hanger and Francis Moody make themselves defendants under the provisions of the statute. They answer, ádmitting the-facts of the bill, but allege that, after the execution of the mortgage above recited and sought to be foreclosed, Thorn borrowed of the Real Estate Bank, upon security of said mortgage, the sum of $3600, and that the bank brought a bill in the Pulaski Circuit Court to foreclose «aid mortgage to pay them for this loan of $3600 and interest, which had never been paid by Thórn. Qn this bill a decree was finally rendered in favor of the bank against Thorn, and the lands mentioned in the mortgage ordered to be sold. A commissioner was appointed to carry the decree into effect. The money was not paid as ordered by the court. The land was sold under the decree, and bought by Luther Chase, one of the trustees of the Real Estate Bank, for the sum of $120. The commissioner made a deed to him for the benefit of the bank.

Gordon N. Peay, by a decree of the Chancery Court of Pulaski county, was afterwards appointed receiver of the effects and assets of the bank, and, while acting under orders from the court, on the 1st day of January, 1858, by deed, conveyed what right, title and interest the bank had in these lands to Hanger & Moody for $11,163, to be paid in the bonds of the State of Arkansas issued to the Real Estate Bank, which were paid and sale confirmed by the court.

This new matter is. made a cross bill, and the defendants pray that the said mortgage may be declared fully discharged' and satisfied; or that the sum of $11,163, so paid by these defendants, may be declared to be a fund devoted in equity to the payment of the sums due by said Thorn under the mortgage, and that an account may be taken as to what is due by said Thorn under the mortgage, and they (Hanger & Moody) be permitted to pay any balance which may be found due, after deducting that sum, in redemption of said lands.

The State, by her answer to this cross bill, admits the matter stated by the defendants to be true in point of fact, but insists that the defendants are not entitled to the relief as prayed. Upon the hearing, the cross bill was dismissed, and a decree rendered in favor of the State; from which decree an appeal was granted.

Only two points are raised by the new matter set up in the answer of the defendants:

First. Was the sale of the lands, and purchase of the same •under the decree of tlie Pulaski Circuit Court, a complete discharge of the mortgage which the State is seeking to foreclose ?

Second. If not a complete discharge, are the defendants entitled in equity to have tlie amount paid by them, with the interest, while in the hands of the receiver of the bank, created into a fund out of which the stock mortgage shall be paid, and the mortgage discharged to the extent of that fund ?

The mortgage, which the State is seeking t.o foreclose, was executed under the provisions of the thirteenth section of the charter of the bank. In that section it was required that the stockholders should execute bonds and mortgages to the bank, conditioned for the payment of the bonds of the State and interest thereon, and, also, for the payment of-all moneys received from the bank on account of subscriptions for stock.

When a person has executed a mortgage, under the provisions of this section of the charter, his deed of mortgage secures the State for the State bonds loaned to the bank to the extent of his interest in it, and also secures the bank for the money he, as a stockholder, or otherwise, has borrowed of the bank.

"We do not, however,' deem it necessary to say more upon the nature of these mortgages, as the case of Wilson vs. Biscoe, et al., 11 Ark., 44, has fully and completely exhausted the reason and authority for holding these mortgages to be double in their character.

Justice W"alker, in delivering the opinion in the above case, said, “ that the two conditions in the mortgage are separate and distinct, and secure rights to the State and the holder of State bonds, prior in point of time and equity, and a subsequent equity and security to the banks for loans made to the stockholder, on account of stock, to the same extent and as fully as if two distinct instruments, the one prior to the other in point of time, had been executed for that purpose.”

In the case before us, it appears that Thomas Thorn mortgaged to the Real Estate Rank certain lands under the provisions of their charter. Thorn failed to pay his note or stock bonds; the bank foreclosed and bought the property itself. Several years afterwards the receiver sold the right of the bank to Hanger & Moody, and in the deed of the receiver it was expressly covenanted that he in no way sold or-in any manner interfered with the interest of the State.

The foreclosure and sale was for only the subsequent equity and security which the bank held for loans made by it. The purchaser could only buy what was foreclosed and offered for sale, and, in this instance, stood in the relation of junior mortgagees, after the purchase from the hank receiver, and subject to the prior mortgage lien of the bondholders and the State. The purchaser acquired no other estate iu the lands than the equity of redemption of the mortgagor, and a subsequent purchaser could not get any other or greater estate.

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Bluebook (online)
27 Ark. 667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanger-moody-v-state-ark-1872.