Mapp v. Thompson

9 Ga. 42
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 15, 1850
DocketNo. 8
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 9 Ga. 42 (Mapp v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mapp v. Thompson, 9 Ga. 42 (Ga. 1850).

Opinion

By the Court.

Nisbet, J.

delivering the opinion.

[1.] By the Act of 1811, where property is levied upon and claimed, the claimant is entitled to its possession, upon giving bond and security in treble the amount of the execution levied, for the delivery of the property at the time of sale, (provided the property levied on should be found subject to the execution,) and in case the claimant should fail to deliver it at the time and place of sale, agreeably to the terms of the bond, it is made the duty of the officer taking, to transfer the bond to the plaintiff in execution; and the law declares that it shall then be recovera[44]*44ble in any Court of Law or Equity in this State, having cognizance thereof. By the Act of 1841, these forthcoming bonds are taken in double the value of the property levied on, and are made payable to the plaintiff in execution, instead of the levying officer, who is authorized to sue and recover thereon, upon breach of the condition. Prince, 438. Act of 1841, pamph. p. 128.

The action in this case was brought by a plaintiff in execution, upon a bond taken under these Statutes. It is against the principal in .the bond and his surety. The execution levied was founded on a joint judgment against Price and Russell, and the property was levied on as the property of Russell. Mapp put in a claim, and gave bond, with Jordan his surety. The bond recites the execution and the levy, and describes the property. The condition is in the following words: “ Now, if the said William F. Mapp shall have the property so levied on at the place and time of sale, when required by the Sheriff for that purpose, in the event the same should be found subject to said execution, then the said bond to be void, else to remain in full force.” The words in the condition of the bond, when required by the Sheriff for that purpose, were held by this Court to impose no additional duty on the Sheriff. 6 Geo. R. 262. They are not, therefore, to be regarded, in this discussion, as meaning anything; indeed, nothing was claimed, on their account, in the argument. To the action, the defendants pleaded a tender of the negroes levied on to the Sheriff, subsequent to the day on which they were advertised to be sold. The Court, upon motion, ordered the plea to be stricken, as insufficient. Whether this order was according to law, is the first and main question made in the record. If the obligors in the bond could discharge themselves by a tender of the property after the day of sale, the plea is good, and not otherwise. This question depends upon the question, whether or not the bond is forfeited by a failure to deliver the property at the time and place of sale ? If it was forfeited by such failure, the defendants could not relieve themselves from the consequences of the forfeiture by a subsequent tender. This is manifest from a consideration of .the rights of the plaintiff in execution, (the obligee in the bond,) and the obligations which de[45]*45volve upon the obligors. The right of the plaintiff is determined by the Act of 1841, which declares that he may sue and recover thereon, upon a breach of the condition. The obligation of the oTaligors is, to pay the debt when the conditions are broken ; that is, when the forfeiture takes place. These rights accrue at the time of forfeiture; so also the obligation. They are fixed, at that time by law, and it is clear that no act of the obligors afterwards can repeal the law and revoke the rights and cancel the obligation. It has been held, by highly respectable Courts, that a forthcoming bond is to be regarded, after forfeiture, as a substitute for the judgment, and is, in fact, a satisfaction of the judgment upon which the execution levied issues, and that no farther proceedings can be had under it; the plaintiff in execution being remitted to and concluded by his remedies on the bond. Ch. J. Marshall, in The United States vs. Graves et al. whilst he held that the bond arrested all farther proceedings on the judgment, doubted whether it extinguished the original claim. 2 Brock. 385, ’6. Cook vs. Piles, 2 Munford, 153. Rusk vs. Ramsey, 3 Ibid, 454. See, also, Taylor vs. Dundas, 1 Wash. 92. 2 Ibid, 189. Jett vs. Walker, 1 Rand. 211. McCombs vs. Ellett, 8 S. if M. 505. Bid, 613. 7 Bid, 791. Walker’s R. 175. Bid, 251.

There are, clearly, cases where the bond, after forfeiture, does not extinguish the original claim. For example, a judgment is rendered against a surely alone, and a levy made, and he gives the forthcoming bond, which is forfeited; in such case, it cannot be that the forfeiture of the bond extinguishes the right of the creditor to go against the principal in the debt, upon the original contract. So decided in Randolph’s Executrix vs. Randolph, 3 Rand. 490. So, when there is a joint judgment against two, and a levy and bond by one, the forfeiture of the bond will not extinguish the judgment against the other judgment debtor; So decided in Robinson vs. Sherman, 2 Gratt. 178. See, also, Lake vs. Ferguson, 2 Gratt. 419. The decided cases here referred to, are upon forthcoming bonds, made by.the defendant in execution. I apprehend the principles are the same, in cases of claim and bond by the claimant, under our Statute.

[46]*46Without entering farther into these questions, we are prepared to say, that the effect of the forfeiture of the bond in this case is, to arrest all farther proceedings on this judgment, against'the defendant in execution, whose property was levied on, and that the property levied on is forever discharged from the lien of the judgment. The Sheriff, too, is discharged from the liability which the levy devolves upon him, ordinarily, by the giving of the bond; for the Statute makes it his duty to receive it, and when given, to deliver the property to the claimant. These considerations are adduced to show how vitally the rights of the plaintiff in execution are affected by the forfeiture of the bond, and thence to draw the inference that no act of the obligor, after its forfeiture, can relieve him from the consequences of the forfeiture. I return now to the enquiry — what constitutes a breach of the condition of this bond ? In other words, when is it forfeited ? We find no difficulty in saying, that if the property is not delivered at the time and place of sale, when ¿nd at which it is advertised to be sold, the condition is broken, and the bond is forfeited. The reasons for this conclusion are—

1st. The Statute so declares; for it does declare, that if the claimant or his surety shall fail to deliver the property at the time and place of sale, agreeably to the bond, the said bond shall be recoverable in any Court of Law or Equity in this State, having cognisance thereof. The bond, too, is required by the Statute to be given agreeably to such condition, for it is to be taken for the delivery of the property at the time of sale. The declaration of the Act, that upon the condition prescribed, the bond shall be recoverable, fyc. is a declaration, that upon that condition it is forfeited, for the right of recovery is wholly incompatible ’with the idea of non-forfeiture.

2d. Because sudh is the contract of the parties, and by that contract they are bound.

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9 Ga. 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mapp-v-thompson-ga-1850.