Scottsdale Ginning Co. v. Longan

209 P. 876, 24 Ariz. 356, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 217
Arizona Supreme Court·Decided October 27, 1922·No. Civil No. 1997·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

FLANIGAN, J.

This is an action in replevin brought by appellee to obtain possession of nine bales of cotton in the hands of appellant, Scottsdale Ginning Company. The complaint alleges that the cotton was grown on appellee’s farm in Maricopa county by his lessee one Middleton and the sublessees of said Middleton, and that the cotton was delivered to appellant at Scottsdale in said county to be ginned while $1,300 of the agreed rental was due and unpaid. The appellant refusing to give possession of the cotton to appellee upon his demand therefor, this action was brought and writ of replevin issued, under which five of the bales were taken from appellant and delivered to appellee. For answer the ginning company demurred to the complaint on the ground that it did not state a cause of action and upon the further ground that, the tenant, Middleton, not having been joined as a party defendant, there was a defect of parties, and answered also by a general denial of the allegations of the complaint. The demurrers were overruled, trial was had, and judgment went for appellee, awarding him the possession of the cotton by virtue of his landlord’s lien thereon.

It is not questioned that a landlord’s lien esists on the cotton for the unpaid rental, but it is contended [358] that this lien is enforceable only in an action to foreclose the same, to which action the tenant is a necessary party defendant, and that, even if replevin is maintainable, the tenant was a necessary party to snch action. The landlord’s lien statute reads as follows:

“Every landlord shall have a lien on all the property of his tenant not exempt by law, placed upon or used on the leased premises until his rent shall be paid, and such landlord, his agent or attorney, may seize, for rent, any personal property of his tenant that may be found on the premises or in the county where such tenant shall reside, but no property of any other person, although the same may be found on the premises, shall be liable for seizure for rent due from such tenant, and in case of failure of the tenant to allow the landlord, his agent or attorney to take possession of such property for the payment of rent, said landlord shall have the right to reduce such property to his possession by action against the tenant to recover the ■ possession of the same, and may hold or sell the same for the purpose of paying said rent unless said rent shall be paid before sale, and every landlord shall have a lien upon the crops grown or growing upon the leased premises for rent thereof, whether the same is payable wholly or in part in money or specific articles of property or products of the premises or labor, and also for the faithful performance of the terms of the lease, and such lien shall continue for a period of six months after the expiration of the term for which the premises were leased, and, in all cases where the demised premises shall be let or lease assigned, the landlord shall have the same right to enforce his lien against the sublessee or assignee as he has against the tenant to whom the premises were leased.” Section 3671, Rev. Stats. 1913.

This paragraph was first enacted as section 4 of Act “No. 56, An act relating to landlords and tenants,” adopted March 21, 1895, by the Territorial Legislature. The entire act was brought forward [359] into the revision of 1901, appearing therein as chapter II of title 29, paragraphs 2692 to 2695 thereof. In the revision of 1913 these paragraphs (with some changes not affecting the construction) appear, respectively, as follows: 2692 as 1551, 2693 as 1552, 2694 as 4714, and 2695 as the one now under consideration, paragraph 3671.

A review of the legislation of the states which have enacted statutes on the subject matter of landlord’s liens or in regulation of the common-law right of distress, discloses a great lack of uniformity therein. See résumé thereof in Jones on Liens, 3d ed., § 602 et seq. The learned author remarks in the work just cited (section 1049):

“Much of the legislation on the subject of liens has been fragmentary, uncertain and apparently experimental, and it is to be hoped and expected that more comprehensive and better considered legislation will follow.”

Our statute exhibits no departure from these general characteristics of such legislation. That part of the paragraph which confers a lien on the tenant’s crops undoubtedly came to the legislative attention from the statutes of Illinois. The remainder of the paragraph does not appear to have ever existed in its precise form in the statutes of other states. What the legislature did was to combine in one statute these separate lien provisions on different classes of property. So much is said to point out that the construction of the statute as a composite presents a new question in decision.

It will be seen that, while the landlord is authorized by the statute to seize for rent certain personal property of his tenant therein mentioned, and if the tenant fails to allow the landlord to take possession to reduce the same to possession by action and to hold or sell the same for the purpose of paying the [360] rent, no such authority is in direct or express terms conferred for the enforcement of the lien given upon the crops grown or growing upon the premises.

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Scottsdale Ginning Co. v. Longan, 209 P. 876, 24 Ariz. 356, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 217 (Ark. 1922).

209 P. 876 (Scottsdale Ginning Co. v. Longan) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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