Standard Oil Co. v. Idaho Community Oil Co.

27 P.2d 173, 95 Mont. 412, 1933 Mont. LEXIS 145
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 25, 1933
DocketNo. 7,115.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 27 P.2d 173 (Standard Oil Co. v. Idaho Community Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Standard Oil Co. v. Idaho Community Oil Co., 27 P.2d 173, 95 Mont. 412, 1933 Mont. LEXIS 145 (Mo. 1933).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE ANGSTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff brought this action against defendant Idaho Community Oil Company to foreclose a mortgage covering both real and personal property. The mortgage covered property in Montana and Idaho. The state of Montana was permitted to intervene. It was shown to have liens covering part of the same property accruing under Chapter 175, Laws of 1929, but which were subsequent in point of time to plaintiff’s mortgage. The state contends that the mortgage was, and is, invalid as to it because it did not contain an affidavit of good faith on the part of the mortgagee. The court found against the state on this point, and it appealed.

The controlling statute is section 8273, Revised Codes of 1921, as amended by Chapter 39, Laws of 1927, which provides that: “All mortgages, deeds of trust, or assignments for the benefit of creditors, of both real and personal property, executed by a corporation, are governed by the law relating to mortgages, or deeds of trust of real property and must be recorded in the office of the county clerk of every county where any part of said property is situated, and the same are valid, notwithstanding the possession of such property is retained by such corporation, but any such mortgages, deeds of trust, or assignments for the benefit of creditors must be accompanied by the affidavit of good faith required to accompany mortgages of personal property, which said affidavit may be made on behalf of any sueh corporation by the President, Secretary or Managing Agent thereof.” This statute was amended by Chapter 11, Laws of 1931; but since the mortgage here involved was executed prior to this amendment, it must be governed by Chapter 39, Laws of 1927.

The statute providing for the affidavit of good faith to accompany chattel mortgages is section 8276, Revised Codes 1921. *415 So far as material here, it provides that: “A mortgage of personal property must * * * have attached thereto the affidavit of the mortgagee, his agent, attorney, or other representative, that the same is made in good faith to secure the amount named therein, and without any design to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors; and where there are two or more mortgagees named in a mortgage, whether copartners or otherwise, any one of said mortgagees may make such affidavit on behalf of all the mortgagees named therein. * * * ”

The mortgage sought to be foreclosed by plaintiff is accompanied by an affidavit of the mortgagor, but not of the mortgagee. Plaintiff contends that section 8273, as amended, supra, is complied with by accompanying the mortgage with an affidavit of good faith by the mortgagor. Its position is that the words of the statute, “but any such mortgages * * * must be accompanied by the affidavit of good faith required to accompany mortgages of personal property,” have reference merely to the form and contents of the affidavit, and not to the person by whom executed, and that the words of the statute, “which said affidavit may be made on behalf of any such corporation by the President, Secretary, or Managing Agent thereof,” constitute an express authorization for the mortgagor corporation to execute the affidavit, since the statute deals only with mortgages made by corporations, and that the word “such” in the last-quoted clause has reference to the mortgagor corporation.

Intervener contends that in order to comply with the statute, there must be an affidavit of good faith executed by the mortgagee.

If Chapter 39, Laws of 1927, were to be read in conjunction with section 8276, without reference to their history, there would be much force in plaintiff’s contention; but when the history of the two statutes is considered, plaintiff’s position is untenable. They were both enacted in 1895. The one corresponding to section 8273 is section 3849 of the 1895 Civil Code. It provided that a mortgage such as we are dealing with here must be accompanied “by the affidavit specified in Section *416 3861.” Section 3861 of the 1895 Civil Code, which corresponds to section 8276, Bevised Codes of 1921, required the affidavit of all the parties to the mortgage. Section 3849 also contained the statement, “and which said affidavit may be made on behalf of any such company or corporation by the president, secretary or managing agent thereof. ’ ’ Without change these sections became sections 5756 and 5758, respectively, of the Bevised Codes of 1907.

By Chapter 86, Laws of 1913, section 5758 was repealed, and in lieu thereof, there was enacted a provision whereby a chattel mortgage was required to have the affidavit of the mortgagee only. This has been the law ever since. Chapter 86, Laws of 1913, with amendments made by Chapter 183, Laws of 1919, which are immaterial here, became section 8276 of the Bevised Codes of 1921.

The first change in section 3849 of the 1895 Civil Code came by Chapter 72, Laws of 1921, which became section 8273 of the 1921 Codes, and which, instead of providing that such mortgages shall be governed by the law relating to mortgages of real property, provided that they should be governed by the law relating to mortgages of personal property, and instead of referring to the chattel mortgage statute by number, contained the clause now found in Chapter 39, Laws of 1927, to the effect that the mortgage must be accompanied by the affidavit of good faith required to accompany mortgages of personal property. By Chapter 39, Laws of 1927, the statute (see. 8273) was again changed so that such mortgages should be governed by the law relating to mortgages of real property.

We think it is plain that under section 3849 of the 1895 Civil Code the legislature intended that a mortgage made by a corporation covering both real and personal property should contain the affidavit of both the mortgagor and mortgagee, as provided for by section 3861, which was referred to by number. The last clause in the Act, reading, “and which said affidavit may be made on behalf of any such company or corporation by the president, secretary or managing agent thereof,” was simply a direction as to what officers might make the affidavit on behalf *417 of the corporation. To sustain plaintiff’s position we must now give this last clause a different meaning from what it had when first enacted. If plaintiff’s contention is sound, this clause must now be construed as a direction as to what party to the mortgage must make the affidavit of good faith. This we cannot do under well-recognized rules of statutory construction.

The amendment of section 3861 by Chapter 86, Laws of 1913, requiring an affidavit by the mortgagee only, obviously could not enlarge the meaning of the last clause of section 3849 so as to make it controlling as to what party to the mortgage should make the affidavit. The amendment of section 3861 did not affect the last clause of section 3849 whatsoever, except to render it inoperative, so far as it applied to the mortgagor corporation, since under the amendment of section 3861 the mortgagor was no longer required to make the affidavit. Also, the subsequent amendments of section 3849, which carried along the last clause unchanged, did not affect its meaning or enlarge its scope, but simply continued that part of the statute in force in its original sense. (Sec. 93, Rev. Codes 1921; Snidow v. Home for the Aged, 88 Mont. 337, 292 Pac.

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Bluebook (online)
27 P.2d 173, 95 Mont. 412, 1933 Mont. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/standard-oil-co-v-idaho-community-oil-co-mont-1933.