Richardson v. Hedges

49 N.E. 822, 150 Ind. 53, 1898 Ind. LEXIS 154
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1898
DocketNo. 18,328
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 49 N.E. 822 (Richardson v. Hedges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson v. Hedges, 49 N.E. 822, 150 Ind. 53, 1898 Ind. LEXIS 154 (Ind. 1898).

Opinion

Monks, J.

Appellants, the only heirs at law of Lucy Richardson, deceased, brought this action to set aside a sale of real estate made by thfe auditor of Marion county to satisfy a mortgage executed to the State to secure a loan from the common school fund. The court made a special finding of the facts, and stated conclusions of law thereon in favor of appellees, to each of which appellants excepted. Final judgment was rendered against appellants. The er[54]*54rors assigned call in question each of the conclusions of law.

The validity of the sale is attacked upon the sole ground that the notice was insufficient. That part of the special finding necessary to the determination of the question presented is substantially as follows: That the notice and advertisement of said sale was published with headlines in large capital letters at the head thereof, as follows: “Notice of sale of lands and lots mortgaged to the State of Indiana for the benefit of the common and congressional school fund, held'in trust by Marion coqnty, Indiana.” Below the headlines, in ordinary sized type, was the following: “In default of payment of principal and interest due to the common and congressional school funds held in trust by Marion county, Indiana, on the loans of said funds hereinafter mentioned, I will, in pursuance of the requirements of the school law, offer at public sale,” etc.

It appears from the special finding that the description of the real estate in controversy was by metes and bounds, giving section, township, and range, and was the same in the notice as in the school fund mortgage, and that immediately following said description in the notice and mortgage was the following: “Be ing the same premises deeded by Lucy Jameson et al. to Lucy Richardson July 8, 1886, and recorded in Deed Record of Land 18, August 4, 1866.” It also appears from said special finding that said real estate, with other real estate, was owned by one Alexander Jameson at the time of his death, and that his heirs made partition thereof by deed, and that the Lydia Jameson and other heirs named conveyed by partition deed to Lucy Richardson, as her portion as heir, the real estate in controversy. That afterwards, on July 12,1886, Lucy Richardson and her [55]*55husband conveyed the real estate in controversy to Alexander Jameson, her brother, who, on the same day, executed a mortgage to the State of Indiana for the use of the common school fund to secure a loan out of'said fund of $550.00, being the same mortgage upon which the sale sought to be set aside in this action was made. That immediately after the execution of said mortgage, said Alexander Jameson reconveyed said real estate to Lucy Richardson, who, in consideration thereof, assumed and agreed to pay said loan secured by said mortgage. Lucy Richardson died intestate in 1888, leaving appellants her heirs at law, who as such inherited said real estate.

The first objection urged to the notice is that there is no “common and congressional school fund;” that there are two funds, a common school fund, and also a “congressional township school fund,” each of which is separate and distinct from the other, and that therefore the notice was untrue and misleading. It is true there are the two funds mentioned, and that they are separate from each other. Section 5750, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (4325, R. S. 1881). The headlines were merely to call attention to the notice, where it is stated, “In default of payment of the principal and interest due the common, and congressional school funds held in trust by Marion county, Indiana, on the loans of said funds hereinafter mentioned, I will, in pursuance of the requirements of the school laws,” etc. The notice clearly names two funds, and two funds are provided for by the statute. Both funds are loaned and collected by the sale of the mortgaged real estate, or otherwise, under the same statute. These funds being named by the statute, and the notice specifying that the sale was made under the provisions of the school laws, everyone was required to take notice of the character of said funds and the provisions of the [56]*56statute concerning the same. It must be presumed, therefore, that everyone knew that the funds designated in the notice as the “Congressional School Fund” was the fund denominated in the statute as the “Congressional Township School Fund.” Moreover, the loan for the payment of which the real estate in controversy was sold, was from the common school fund, of which it cannot be claimed there was any misdescription in the notice.

It is next insisted by appellants that the notice is objectionable because “Mrs. Richardson, through whom appellants obtained title, got her title through Lydia Jameson, et al., by a partition deed, July 8, 1886, while the notice identifies the real estate as, being the same premises deeded by Lucy Jameson, et al., to Lucy Richardson, July 8, 1886, and recorded in Deed Record 18, August 4, 1866.”

The real estate in controversy was properly described by metes and bounds in the notice, and in the mortgage. In each, the source of Lucy Richardson’s title thereto, as being from Lucy Jameson, et al., was stated in the same words. The description in the complaint is the same as in the notice and mortgage, except the source of Mrs. Richardson’s title is not set forth. The designation of Lydia Jameson as Lucy Jameson in the mortgage and notice is not a misdescription of the real estate, and could not have misled anyone. The real estate was correctly described, and an examination of the records would have disclosed the fact that Mrs. Richardson, from whom appellants inherited said real estate, derived her title originally from her father, Alexander Jameson, and that the same was set off to her by partition deed, executed by Lydia Jameson, et al., July 8, 1886, and that she and her husband conveyed said real estate to her brother, who executed the mortgage to secure [57]*57the loan from the common school funds, and then re-conveyed the real estate to her.. The mortgage and notice each state that said deed was recorded August 8, 1866. This was a mistake, as the same was executed July 8, 1886, and could not have been recorded in 1866. The partition deed was no doubt recorded August 8, 1886, instead of 1866. This did not, however, render the description of the real estate uncertain. All that was stated in the mortgage and the notice in. regard to the source of title, and the date of the recording of the partition deed to Mrs. Richardson, was surplusage, and was not essential to the description -of the real estate.

In Key v. Ostrander, 29 Ind. 1, a description of real estate sold by the county auditor on a school fund mortgage, much less certain and definite than this description, was held sufficient. The court, on p. 6, said: “Is the deed void for uncertainty in the description of the land conveyed? We think not. ‘The general rule in regard to the construction of the description of the premises in a deed is one of the utmost liberality. The intent of the parties, if it can by any possibility be gathered from the language employed, will be effectuated.’ Peck v. Mallams, 10 N. Y. 509.” See, also, Frick v. Godare, 144 Ind. 170, and cases cited.

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Bluebook (online)
49 N.E. 822, 150 Ind. 53, 1898 Ind. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-v-hedges-ind-1898.