Moore v. . Spruill

35 N.C. 55

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: December 5, 1851
• Status: Published

Opinion

Ruffin, C. J.

This is not a case of leasing land by the one party to the other, nor of hiring a laborer by the owner, of the land, as it seemed to the Court. There was nothing .said as to the payment of rent or wages, as such, either in money or parts of the crop. But, on the contrary, the ' terms of the bargain shew it was intended, that there might be, as in fact there was, a joint cultivation, on joint account of the parties, with a particular provision for disposing of the crop, in convenient time and manner, in order to close the transaction, by. paying th.e expenses out of the proceeds, and dividing the residue in the proportions agreed on. The value of the labor, and provisions •supplied by the defendant was thus, a charge on the crop, and was not a personal debt of Keel, in the first instance, and would not become so, except for his proportion of the loss, in case the crop should not be sufficient to defray the expenses. The parties were, thus, joint owners of the crop, and the defendant, as survivor, had the right to the property, in .order to dispose of it, according to the contract ; and, therefore., the plaintiff ought not to recover.

Pee. Cukiam. Judgment affirmed.