Lawrence v. Belger

31 Ohio St. (N.S.) 175
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1877
StatusPublished

This text of 31 Ohio St. (N.S.) 175 (Lawrence v. Belger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawrence v. Belger, 31 Ohio St. (N.S.) 175 (Ohio 1877).

Opinion

McIlvaine, J.

To show error in the judgment below, two points are made and relied on by plaintiffs in error:

1. That the judgment of the defendant in error never was a lien on ¿the interest of Conrad Beymer in these lands; at most, not until the lien of plaintiffs’ mortgage had attached.

2. If such lien existed, either by force of the judgment [178]*178or the levy under it, the lien became and was dormant at the commencement of the-proceedings in partition.

If neither of these points can be maintained, it is conceded the judgment was right.

In support of the first proposition, it is contended that a judgment lien can exist only by force of statutory., provisions ; and that there is no statute creating a lien in favor of a judgment rendered by the Circuit Court of the United States.

The general doctrine contended for has been repeatedly announced by this court, and by the federal courts; and it is also true that there is no express statutory provision creating a lien in favor of judgments rendered by the federal courts.

It has, however, been held by this court, in a well considered ease, Sellers v. Corwin, 5 Ohio, 398, that judgments rendered by the United States Circuit Court for the district ■of Ohio, have a lien upon the lands of the debtor, within the district. The doctrine of this case is, that inasmuch as the'execution laws of the state have been adopted under and by virtue of the federal statute for the enforcement of 'the judgments of federal courts within the state, that the same lien declared by the statute of the state in favor, of the judgments of state courts attaches to the judgments of federal courts, on lands within the district. And this doctrine is analogous .to that of the English courts, which hold that á lien is created in favor of a judgment, by virtue of the statute, which* authorizes a moiety of the debtor’s land, by a writ of elegit, to be delivered to the creditor, until his claim is satisfied out of the rents and profits.

We see no good reason for doubting the correctness of the decision, in Sellers v. Corwin, especially as the same •doctrine has been held in several cases decided by the courts of the United States, as well also as by those of several of our sister states. Shrew v. Jones, 2 McLean, 78; Massingell v. Downs, 7 Howard, 760; Williams v. Benedict, 8 Howard, 107; Cropsey v. Crandall, 2 Blackf. 430; Brown v. Pierce, 7 Wallace, 205.

[179]*179It is also contended, that the interest of Conrad Beymer in the estate devised, during the continuance of the preceding particular estate, was not embraced within the meaning of “lands and tenements,” as used in section 421 of the code, which declares the lien of a judgment as follows: “The Linds and tenements of the debtor . . . shall be bound for the satisfaction thereof,” etc.; or, in other words, that a vested remainder in lands is not the subject of a judgment lien uuder our statute.

The exact point is, that actual possession, or the right to immediate possession, in the debtor, is essential to the existence of a judgment lieu ; and, by way of argument, it is claimed that no provision is made, in our execution laws, for the appraisement of such interest, which appraisement must take place before a sale can be made.

If it were settled that an estate in remainder can not be sold under the legal process of execution, because of a lack of authority to make the necessary appraisement of such an interest, it would not necessarily follow that a judgment does not operate as a lien thereon; for, notwithstanding, the lien might exist until the precedent estate would fall out, when the appraisement and sale could take place without any conceivable objection ; or, previous to the falling out of the particular estate, possibly, resort might be had to a court of equity for relief. It has been held, however, in Canby v. Porter, 12 Ohio, 79, that a life estate may be appraised, and sold in execution. “ Its value,” say the court, “ is the complement of the value of the fee, after deducting the value of the remainder, the elements of com-puting which are entirely within reach of the appraisers.” The same might be said with equal propriety of the value of the remainder, if it were the subject of the sale. But I will not pursue this inquiry, as we are satisfied the question, whether or not a vested remainder may be appraised and sold on execution at law, does not determine the main proposition, namely, whether or not such estate is subject^ under our statute, to the lien of a judgment.

The words, “lands and tenements of the debtor” are of [180]*180very broad signification ; and while we admit that they do not embrace mere equities in lands or tenements, it is difficult to perceive why they should not include remainders vested under legal titles as well as legal estates in laud and tenements in possession of the debtor.

It will be observed, that the estates made subject to judgment liens are not described in the statute by any word indicating that there must be seizin in the debtor. It is claimed, however, that such is the legal effect of the words used. If this claim were granted, what would be the effect of the statute.

The origin of judgment liens is found in the English statute of Westminister the second, which authorized the judgment creditor to sue out a writ of elegit—the command of which was that the officer deliver to the plaintiff' a moiety of all the lands and tenements, whereof the debtor at the time of obtaining the judgment was seized or at any time thereafter, etc. Now under this statute it was held that the judgment was a lien upon the debtor’s lands and tenements in consequence of the right to take out an elegit, and that the lien continued as long as the right existed; and it was further held that remainders and reversions were subject to the judgment lien as well as estates in actual possession ; and that too, whether the remainder or reversion fell in during the life time of the debtor or after his death. And if judgment were not taken on a bond of the remainder-man or reversioner, binding his heirs, during the life time of the debtor, it might be taken against the heir, and the form of the judgment in such case was, that the plaintiff recover his debt and damages of the aforesaid reversion, to be levied when it shall fall in. Dyer, 373; Carthon, 129; 1 Lord Raymond, 53; Chitty on Descents, 336.

In Gilbert on Executions, 38 and 39, it is said, that the judgment binds not only the lands and tenements of which the defendant is actually seized, but also reversions on leases for lives, as well as for years; for although the words of the elegit are, that without delay yon cause to be delivered a moiety of all the lands and tenements of which the [181]*181aforesaicl-was seized, etc., yet the intent of the writ extends to whatever lands and tenements were actually vested in the defendant; because the statute is, that a moiety of the land, which extends to reversions, which are comprised under the name lands, since they are lands returning, etc. So in Comyn’s Digest, title Grant, E. 2, it is said, that by a grant of lands and tenements a reversion passes; and in title Estate, B. 12, it is said, if a man grant the land itself, the reversion passes.

The same would certainly be true of a vested remainder.

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Bluebook (online)
31 Ohio St. (N.S.) 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawrence-v-belger-ohio-1877.