Hill v. Hill

247 F. 778, 159 C.C.A. 636, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1709
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 17, 1917
DocketNo. 4842
StatusPublished

This text of 247 F. 778 (Hill v. Hill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Hill, 247 F. 778, 159 C.C.A. 636, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1709 (8th Cir. 1917).

Opinion

STONE, Circuit Judge.

In 1873, John R. Williams, who owned in fee a large tract of Arkansas land,- including that here involved, execut ■ ed a deed of trust upon the entire property. In 1875 a sale was made under this deed of trust. The contest is between the heirs of Williams (defendants) and those who deraign their title from the purchaser at the above sale. The heirs claim that this property, being the homestead of Williams, the deed of trust was, as to it, void under section 2, article 12, of the Arkansas Constitution of 1868, which was in force in 1873. 'Phe plaintiffs claim: That no proper selection of the homestead was ever made; therefore the constitutional provision could not apply. That the homestead right was merely an estate during the lives of Williams and his widow and during the minority of their children; therefore, as grantees of the purchaser of the entire tract covered by the deed of trust, they are. entitled to possession of this homestead portion, now that the life estates have terminated and the children reached maj ority.

The case is here upon error from final judgment upon overruling a demurrer to paragraph 10 of the . answer, the essential statements of which are:

“ * * * And further answering they say that at the time of the execution of the deed of trust by the said John It. Williams to Napoleon Hill, as trustee, on the 9ih day of April, 1878, the said John It. Williams was a married man and the head of a family; that he resided upon the lands sued for heroin, and said lands being his homestead, consisting of 160 aeres of country lands, they allege that said deed of trust so executed to the said Napoleon Hill as trustee was under the Constitution of 1868 null and void, because the debt it secured was not for purchase money thereto, nor for taxes or laborers’ or mechanics’ liens; and that no title passed from the said John if. Williams to the said Napoleon Hill as trustee. They further say that, no title having passed to the said Napoleon Hill as trustee under said deed of trust, none passed to said plaintiffs by reason of the mesne conveyances arising from the foreclosure of the same; but, on the contrary, they say that the title remained vested in the said John It. Williams, and after his death in his heirs at law— these defendants—who are now the sole and absolute owners of said lands sought to be recovered by the plaintiffs in this action.”

Section 2, article 12, of the 1868 Constitution is:

“Hereafter the homestead of any resident of this state who is a married man or head of a family shall not be incumbered in any manner while owned by him, except for taxes, laborers’ and mechanics’ liens and securities for the purchase money thereof.”

The State Supreme Court has decided that a deed of trust in violation of this section is void. Harbison v. Vaughan, 31 Ark. 15; Frits v. Frits, 32 Ark. 327; Sentell v. Armor, 35 Ark. 49; Klenk v. Knoble, 37 Ark. 298, 304; Webb v. Davis, 37 Ark. 551, 555; Sims v. Thompson, 39 Ark. 301; Brown v. Watson, 41 Ark. 309, 313. There is no [780]*780dispute that at the time the deed of trust was executed Williams was entitled to claim a homestead, nor that the debt giving rise to, that instrument was within none of the exceptions of the above section.

Plaintiffs contend Williams never made a definite and proper designation of the land he desired exempted as a homestead. Decisions of the state Supreme Court determine that it was unnecessary to, do this prior to or at the time of executing the deed of trust. These cases go even further and hold that a direct statement in the deed itself that the lands included were not claimed as homestead will not prevent the constitution rendering such instrument void in so far as a later claim for homestead is concerned. Webb v. Davis, 37 Ark. 551; Klenk v. Knoble, 37 Ark. 298. Dess than a year after executing the deed of trust, and more than a year before the sale thereunder, Williams filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court and ex officio recorder of the county in which the land was located a schedule of the land he claimed as homestead. This schedule by legal description clearly defined this land. The state Constitution and statutes were silent as to any particular method of homestead designation, except for purposes of exemption from judicial process. The schedule filed by Williams conformed to the statutory requirements in that respect. Acts Ark. 1871, p. 285. Doubtless his purpose was to, comply with that statute. Nevertheless, the schedule constituted a sufficient designation for all purposes.

The circumstances surrounding and following the sale convince that there was no question nor uncertainty at that time as to the designation of the homestead. According to a recital in the trustee’s deed (an exhibit attached to the petition), Williams was present at the sale, “consenting that said lands should be sold in a body reserving to himself the benefits of the laws of the state of Arkansas as to a homestead.” Following the sale the purchaser took possession of all of the land covered by the deed of trust except this portion. No attempt was made to disturb Williams, his widow, or his heirs in their residence on and possession of this land until the present suit was filed, more than 40 years after the sale. . We conclude that the homestead was sufficiently designated and that the constitutional provision protected this land as homestead from the operation of the deed of trust.

The position of plaintiffs that, even if the homestead were properly selected, they are entitled to the land now that the homestead has expired, is also not well taken. Their theory on this is that, although the deed of trust could not convey the homestead, yet it could and did convey the remainder left thereafter, and that Williams at the sale consented to the sale of the land subject only to the homestead. The circumstance that Williams consented to the sale in that form cannot alter the effect of the constitutional, requirement. The decisions of the state Supreme Court have settled that a deed of trust covering the land claimed as the homestead is void in toto as to the homestead. Frits v. Frits, 32 Ark. 327; Sentell v. Armor, 35 Ark. 49; Webb v. Davis, 37 Ark. 551; Brown v. Watson, 41 Ark. 309; Sims v. Thompson, 39 Ark. 301. Although the cases just cited arose during the life of the homestead, they were intended to apply also to the remainder after the homestead. In Brown v. Watson, supra, the court at page 313 (italics ours) said:

[781]*781“What this court has so often assorted as to make any further assertion unnecessary of it in the reports, is: That a mortgage or a deed of trust, or any attempted incumbrance on a homestead, other than those excepted in the Constitution, is void. Tho owner may abandon and sell the homestead the next day, and make good title. It is not a question of good faith, or of sound morals. It is a matter of state policy. Whilst the owner might sell his homestead, and thus realize its fair value, the Constitution meant, to protect him and his family from the insidióos temptation to incur debts upon it, in the sanguine expectation of being able to discharge them; but which would in many cases result in having the home taken for an insignificant sum. It was easy for a creditor to take notice of tho homestead, and he cannot complain if he finds that to be void in his hands, which the Constitution advised him would he so.”

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Related

Frits v. Frits
32 Ark. 327 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1877)
Sentell v. Armor
35 Ark. 49 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1879)
Klenk v. Knoble
37 Ark. 298 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1881)
Webb v. Davis
37 Ark. 551 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1881)
Sims v. Thompson
39 Ark. 301 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1882)
Brown v. Watson
41 Ark. 309 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1883)
McCloy & Trotter v. Arnett
47 Ark. 445 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1886)
Sansom v. Harrell
51 Ark. 429 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1888)
Kessinger v. Wilson
14 S.W. 96 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1890)
Sansom v. Harrell
18 S.W. 1047 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1892)
Bond v. Montgomery
20 S.W. 525 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1892)
Harris v. Watson
20 S.W. 529 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1892)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
247 F. 778, 159 C.C.A. 636, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-hill-ca8-1917.