Osborn v. Noble

46 Miss. 449
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 46 Miss. 449 (Osborn v. Noble) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Osborn v. Noble, 46 Miss. 449 (Mich. 1872).

Opinion

SlMKALL, J. :

The complainant filed his bill in chancery, to be substituted to the benefits of a deed in trust, executed by S. O. Capers, to protect and indemnify Winters, Myers and [453]*453Strong, who were his sureties on several promissory notes, amounting in the aggregate to $29,620, given to the complainant, Noble, for a plantation and slaves, sold and conveyed by Noble to Capers in 1858.

The complainant grounds his right upon doctrines well established in the courts of equity: “That, if a creditor obtains a mortgage or other security from the principal debtor, the surety is entitled to its protection. So, if the surety has obtained indemnity from his principal, the creditor may avail of it, and have satisfaction of his debt out of it.” 1 Story’s Eq., § 481. For a statement of the general principle see, also, Bowen v. Hoskins, 45 Miss. 183.

In disposing of this case, it is necessary to look somewhat closely into the principle invoked : to trace its origin and see upon what considerations it rests; what is its extent and limitation. It is universally conceded by the jurists, that the principle known in our jurisprudence as “substitution,” was brought from the civil laws, where it was known as “ cessio actionem.” As, if the surety pays voluntarily or compulsorily, the creditor must make good to the surety any actions or remedies he has against the principal debtor, also all the accessories thereof, his actions against other sureties and his pledges. If the creditor has put himself in such condition that he cannot assign his securities and remedies against the principal and other sureties, he is barred of his remedy against him upon whom he makes claim. Potier Pan., book 46, § 5. In Hopeland v. Bank of Cumberland, 10 Leigh, 220, it was thought to be wise to recur to the civil law, to derive aid in determining the scope of the doctrine of substitution. There could be no “cessio actionem ” if there never had been a cause of action and a remedy. Where one is bound for the debt of another and pays it, equity will treat the securities and remedies of the creditor, against the principal debtor, as still subsisting for the benefit of the surety. Some of the cases hold, that the rule only embraces collateral securities, while others have so extended it as not to treat the princi[454]*454pal debt extinguished by the payment, if there were any special advantages incident to it, but consider such payment as operating as an assignment of the debt-itself, in order that the surety may avail of the incidental privileges. As if it be a judgment with a lien on property, the judgment will be considered, by an advance of the money, as purchased and equitably assigned, so that the surety may have the priority of the lien, against other creditors.

The rule, that a creditor is equally provided for, when the principal has created an indemnity for his surety, does not arise out of any notion of mutual contract between the parties, but is rather the offspring of natural equity, independent of contract, to prevent the surety, in the first instance, from being harrassed with the debt, and then turn him round to seek redress out of the collateral indemnity.

Where the conveyance is made to or for the security of property not by the terms of the instrument specifically bound to the creditor, the primary intent apparent on the face of the writing is that the property is not pledged to him for the debt. The extent of the burdens, trusts and conditions annexed to a grant, is to be learned by reading the instrument, and gathering from it the intent and purpose. The owner has a right (if he does no fraud, -or violates no prohibition of law) to dispose of his property at pleasure. Courts enforce contracts, or give redress for the violation of them, as made by the parties. By construction, they cannot enlarge them beyond their fair intent and meaning, nor, on the other hand, so limit them as to fall short of that. An subrogating, therefore, the creditor to the surety’s place,' as to any indemnity given him, there can be neither increase nor diminution of rights, as they actually existed in favor of the surety. If, therefore, the indemnity is against a contingent liability, there can be no substitution until the liability has become absolute. Bank of Virginia v. Boiseau, 12 Leigh, 370; 10 ib. 222.

If a mortgage or other security is given to the surety, not to secure the debt or provide a fund for its payment, but to [455]*455save harmless from a contingent liability or loss, that contingency must come, or the injury be sustained before a right to the indemnity inures to the creditor. Where the contract is for the personal benefit of the surety, in opposition to the idea of 'a pledge for the debt, or providing means for its payment, the creditor can claim only such rights and remedies as the surety had. If he has not been damnified, and the conditions of the mortgage or other contract of indemnity are unbroken, the surety himself could assert no remedy, nor could the creditor claiming through him and in his stead have substitution. Ohio Life Ins. Co. v. Reeder et al., 18 Ohio, 46. If, however, the principal has assigned a fund for the payment of the debt, and the surety pays it, he is entitled to re-imbursement out of the funds. 2 Burr. 202.

An analysis of the cases in this state and elsewhere will, we think, show the distinction we have attempted to enforce though not always adverted to, that where the creditor seeks to appropriate to his debt the collateral indemnity of the surety, it must appear that the security is for the debt as well as the ultimate protection of the surety. If such be its character, it is of no moment whether it was given at the time the principal obligation was incurred or afterward, or whether it was known at the time to the creditor or not. The creditor has an interest in it, and becomes a cestui que trust. The fund or property at once takes on a trust character, and the surety can do no act which will discharge the trust or release the property from the burden, to the prejudice of the creditor. Thus in Paris v. Hulet, 26 Vt., the mortgage to the surety was upon the condition that the mortgagor would pay the notes and hold the surety harmless. So in Eastman v. Foster, 8 Metc. (Mass.), and Collin ads. Roberts Colvin, 8 Gratt. 363. In Ohio Life Ins. Co. v. Ledyard, it was said the indemnity was for the better security and protection of the debt. In Moses v. Murgatroyd, 1 Johns. Ch., it was said by Chancellor Kent, that it made no difference whether the creditor knew of the securities or not, they were [456]*456trusts created for the better protection of the debt, “and the court will see that they fulfill that design.” In Homer v. Savings Bank, 7 Conn. 484, after a somewhat' patient examination of the books, it was declared by the court that the principle to be extracted from the cases was, that if collateral security is given, or property assigned for the better protection or payment of the debt, it shall be made effective for that purpose, not only to the immediate parties, but to whomsoever is entitled to the debt. It rests upon the intent of the transaction. When created for such an object, the indemnities become trusts, which courts of chancery will carry out, “and see that they fulfill the design.”

In Daniel v. Joyner et al., 3 Ired. Eq.

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Bluebook (online)
46 Miss. 449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/osborn-v-noble-miss-1872.