Pike v. Pike

24 N.H. 384
CourtSuperior Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 15, 1852
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 24 N.H. 384 (Pike v. Pike) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pike v. Pike, 24 N.H. 384 (N.H. Super. Ct. 1852).

Opinion

Eastman, J.

The authorities cited by the counsel for Chase fully establish the rule that persons having equitable rights, which can be enforced in courts of law only in the names of parties in whom the legal title is vested, may prosecute and defend those rights in the names of the persons in whom the legal title exists. It is of course to be understood that in such cases a full indemnity for costs must be furnished if required.

And persons in whom the legal' title exists cannot control the suits thus necessarily brought in their names; nor will their admissions, subsequent to the time that they ceased to have an interest, be evidence to defeat them. Webb v. Steele, 18 N. H. Rep. 230. The instances in which questions of the kind arise are usually those of contracts, judgments and choses in action not negotiable, and they ordinarily occur as affecting the action of plaintiffs.

It is also a matter of familiar practice in this State to permit subsequent attaching creditors to defend suits in the name of the defendant upon the record, upon the alleged ground that the claims are without foundation, and with the view to render available the subsequent attachments. Buckman v. Buckman, 4 N. H. Rep. 319; Webster v. Harper, 7 N. H. Rep. 594; Blaisdell & al. v. Ladd, 14 N. H. Rep. 129. In the last case cited, the rule was applied so that a subsequent attaching creditor might appear and show cause why a trustee should not be charged in a prior suit.

But in all such cases, where an appearance is granted, the interests to be affected should be direct and apparent; such as would suffer, if not indeed be sacrificed, were the court to deny the privilege. Unless it is quite apparent that injustice will be done by a refusal, parties should be required to litigate and try their rights in their own names.

In the case before us, Chase’s wife held the title to the property attached, subject to the mortgage to Eossiter, by a voluntary conveyance from Polly Pike, her mother. Being a mere voluntary conveyance, it was void as to any valid claim against Polly Pike existing prior to and at the time of the deed. Carlisle v. [395]*395Rich, 8 N. H. Rep. 44; Smith v. Smith, 11 N. H. Rep. 459; Kimball v. Fenner, 12 N. H. Rep. 248.

The suit of Samuel L. Pike against Polly was founded upon a elaim bearing date prior to the conveyance, and if it was for a good consideration it would avoid the conveyance to the extent of the claim at least. Samuel L. Pike, then, having attached the land, Chase and his wife had an interest to defeat that suit, and thus prevent the application of the property to the satisfaction of any judgment that might be obtained therein.

Had the land been unincumbered, and thus subject to be set off to Samuel L. Pike on the execution that might be recovered by him, there would have been no occasion for the appearance of Chase to defeat the action, since upon a question of title to the property, in a suit between Chase and Samuel L. Pike, the validity of the judgment obtained by Pike would have been open to inquiry by Chase. But if the equity of redemption be regarded as a chattel interest, so that the title of the purchaser could not be affected by the validity of the judgment, as in the case of goods sold upon execution, then there would seem to be no way in which it could be regained by any subsequent suit at law by Chase. Consequently, unless the suit of Samuel L. Pike against Polly could be defeated, the equity would pass beyond recovery by Chase. At all events the interest of Chase and his wife was so direct and apparent in the original action in the common pleas, that whether the equity would pass as a chattel or not, we see no objection to the ruling of the court there, by which Chase was permitted to appear and defend that suit on giving security for costs, as required; although it is going quite as far, if not farther than the court have ever gone heretofore.

In that suit Polly Pike, the defendant of record, in whose name Chase was permitted to defend, was defeated. Chase paid the costs according to the tenor of his bond, and withdrew it from the files of the court. Execution was taken for the amount of damages recovered, and the equity of redemption sold. The execution was satisfied by the sale of the equity, and thus that action was terminated.

[396]*396If Chase can maintain this suit upon the writ of review which he has sued out in the name of Polly Pike, it must be as a matter of right growing out of his appearance in the original action; which appearance was obtained by the permission of the court. He was not known in that suit, except as he had leave to appear and defend, and he could not have appeared unless by permission given. There is no provision of law by which he could appear as a matter of right. He was not a party to the record, and no execution could have issued in his name, either for or against him, and he was not liable for costs, except by virtue of the bond which he was required to file. Holland v. Seaver, 1 Foster’s Rep. 386; Little v. Bunce, 7 N. H. Rep. 485. The record, when reduced to form, was made up between Samuel L. Pike and Polly Pike, and Chase’s name appears not in the record, but only upon the docket, as having leave to appear and defend that suit.

Independent, then, of his leave to appear, he could not have defended that suit; and if he could not have defended it except by permission, he cannot bring this writ of review, which is a new proceeding, without some previous leave to do it, unless the permission given in the original action can extend so far as to permit the writ of review to be brought. This question involves an inquiry into the nature of an action pending by writ of review, and how far it is to be regarded as a continuation of the former suit.

The Revised Statutes provide that all civil actions in which judgment has been rendered, and in which an issue of fact has been joined, except those in which by law a different provision is made, may be once reviewed. Rev. Stat., chap. 192, § 1.

By the second section of the same chapter it is enacted that the superior court may grant a review in any other case, when it shall appear that justice has not been done through any accident, mistake or misfortune, and that a further hearing would be just and equitable.

Section nine provides that every case shall be tried upon review in the same manner as if no judgment had been rendered [397]*397therein, and any new or further evidence may be produced therein.

And it is also provided by sections ten and eleven, that if the amount of the property, debt or damages recovered by the original plaintiff is increased on review, he shall recover judgment for the excess and costs; and if such amount is reduced, the original defendant shall recover judgment for the amount of such reduction and costs. If the original plaintiff reviews and does not recover a greater amount than in the former suit, the defendant recovers costs; and if the defendant reviews and the amount of the former judgment is not reduced, the original plaintiff recovers costs.

The writ of review does not operate as a stay of execution upon the first judgment, nor does it ever operate, in form, as a reversal of that judgment, but the original judgment stands. Rev. Stat., chap. 192, § 13; Knox v. Knox, 12 N. H. Rep. 357.

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Bluebook (online)
24 N.H. 384, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pike-v-pike-nhsuperct-1852.