Starr v. Vaughn

1925 OK 646, 241 P. 152, 113 Okla. 247, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 972
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 8, 1925
Docket15610
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1925 OK 646 (Starr v. Vaughn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starr v. Vaughn, 1925 OK 646, 241 P. 152, 113 Okla. 247, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 972 (Okla. 1925).

Opinion

PHELPS. J.

The record in this case discloses that on May 6, 1918, one Luke Duffield went, in company with Ezekiel Starr and Edna Starr, to the office of H. E. Dickson, an attorney of Grove, Okla., where the note and mortgage in question were executed. Ezekiel Starr and" Edna Starr were unable to read or write, but prior to the execution of the instruments in question they were read to Ezekiel Starr and Edna Starr by Mr. Dickson. Mr. Dickson then signed the names of said parties to the instruments and both parties signed by their mark, the instruments being witnessed by Curtis Gault and Tipton Rogers, and tbe mortgage acknowledged before Mr. Dickson, a notary public. The note in question, was for $1,590. payable to Minnie Fields, providing for interest and attorney’s fees, and the mortgage was given upon, the land described therein to secure the payment of the note, and was on May 9, 1918, placed of record in Delaware county, Okla.

On May 11, 1918, Minnie Fields, the payee, indorsed the note and assigned the mortgage to J. E. Crawford, who thereafter and before maturity indorsed the note “without recourse” and assigned the mortgage to W. B. Fisher, and before maturity W. E. Fisher indorsed the note “without recourse” and assigned the mortgage to Jesse Vaughn, defendant in error herein, who was plaintiff below.

When the note fell due it was not paid, and -on August 10, 1923, defendant in error filed his action in the district court of Delaware county, Okla., praying judgment on the note and foreclosure of the mortgage. Shortly after the execution of the note and mortgage Ezekiel Starr was declared incom *248 petent and J. O. (Oale) Starr was appointed his guardian, and the action was commenced against Ezekiel Starr, J. O. (Oale) Starr as. his guardian, Edna Starr, and Minnie Fields. It appears, however, that no service was ever had on Minnie Fields.

Defendants filed their answer, denying generally the allegations of plaintiff’s petition, further alleging that the note and mortgage were void because of the incompetency of Ezekiel Starr at the time of their execution; that they were void because of fraud practiced on Ezekiel Starr and Edna Starr in the procurement of the same; that the note and mortgage were void because not executed as provided by law, and were void because at the time of their execution Edna Starr was a minor. The cause went to trial before a jury, and at the close of the evidence it was determined by the court that there was no disputed question of fact for the jury’s consideration, but only questions' of law for the court. The jury was discharged, and upon a consideration of the questions of law by the court judgment was rendered for the plaintiff for the amount sued for and for the foreclosure of the mortgage, the court finding in its judgment that:

“It was agreed that there was no question of fact to submit to the jury and that said jury be discharged, which was by the court ordered. It was further agreed that there were two questions, viz.: (A) The effect of the minority of the defendant Edna Starr on the note and mortgage sued on; (B) whether the manner in which the note and mortgage were executed by Ezekiel Starr and Edna Starr amounted to a legal execution, it being agreed that both were questions of law and not of fact.”

It therefore appears that the parties by stipulation, agreed upon the questions which they thought should be settled and the case was submitted upon these two questions only, although, plaintiffs in error devote considerable space in their .brief to other questions. We will not consider the same herein for the reason that the parties, having agreed to the questions to be determined by the court as expressed in, the court’s journal entry of its judgment, are bound thereby.

In Whitener v. Moss, 71 Okla. 57, 175 Pac. 223, this court said:

“The rule is of almost universal application that questions, of whatever nature, not raised and properly presented for review in tlie trial court, will not be noticed on appeal. And where counsel declares in the trial in open court that only a certain question is involved in the case, or where, by stipulation, the case is submitted only on a certain question, other questions cannot be raised in' the appellate court. This question was before the court in the early case of Little Company v. Burnham, etc., Co., 5 Okla. 283, 49 Pac. 66. In that case the journal entry and an amendment to the record shows that: ‘Both parties elected to submit the case upon, the question of the validity of the chattel mortgage in question.’ ’’

The question there raised was whether the possession taken by another under a transfer by way of pledge could, after such agreement in court, be considered on appeal. This court refused to consider the question so raised, and that has been the rule followed by this court.

We will now pass .to a consideration of the questions . determined by the court below, viz.: Are the note and mortgage void because not executed by Ezekiel Starr and Edna Starr as required by law? And is the mortgage void because Edna Starr was not of age when she executed it? The makers of this note and mortgage signed by mark in the presence of two witnesses, but the notary public taking the acknowledgment did not, in his certificate, say that said instrument was executed in the presence of two witnesses, naming them as required by section 5277, Comp. Stats. 1921, but instead used the regular form of acknowledgment provided for by section 5276, Comp. Stats. 1921. We cannot agrée with counsel for plaintiffs in error that this failure on the part of the notary public to strictly comply with the terms of the statute renders the mortgage in question void as between the maker and the assignee of the payee. There was a clause in the mortgage as is usual, providing that the makers—

“Do, by these presents, grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said party of the second part, lier heirs and assigns, all the following described real estate.”

It will, therefore, be observed that the defendant in error, being an innocent purchaser for value of the note and mortgage in question in so far as the acknowledgment is concerned, stands ini exactly the same position that the original payee stands in with the maker of the instrument, and as between them an irregularity in the acknowledgment can avail plaintiffs in error nothing, for as between these parties the instrument would be valid even without an acknowledgment.

In Funnell v. Conrad, 74 Okla. 29, 176 Pac. 904, this court had that question under consideration, and in the body of the opinion used this language:

“Under assignment of error No. 7 much complaint is made of the action of the trial *249 judge in permitting the deed under which plaintiff claimed title and right of possession to be introduced. The particular objection leveled against this action of the court is' based upon the fact that the deed was executed by mark, and that the acknowledgment taken by the notary public before whom it was acknowledged does not conform to the statutory requirement. Section 1180, Rev.

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Bluebook (online)
1925 OK 646, 241 P. 152, 113 Okla. 247, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starr-v-vaughn-okla-1925.