State ex rel. Wyandotte Lodge No. 35 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows v. Evans

75 S.W. 914, 176 Mo. 310, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 103
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 30, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 75 S.W. 914 (State ex rel. Wyandotte Lodge No. 35 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows v. Evans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Wyandotte Lodge No. 35 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows v. Evans, 75 S.W. 914, 176 Mo. 310, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 103 (Mo. 1903).

Opinion

VALLIANT, J.

This is an original proceeding by which the relator seeks a writ to prohibit a judge of the circuit court in Jackson county issuing a writ of assistance to put the purchaser into possession of certain real estate which was sold under a decree of that court in a suit to foreclose a deed of trust.

The application for the writ of prohibition is based on two propositions: first, that the suit in which the foreclosure judgment was rendered was an action at law in which relator says no writ of assistance can issue; second, if relator is mistaken in the nature of that suit and it is to be adjudged a suit in equity, then it says the court has exceeded its jurisdiction in ordering the writ of assistance because there had been no confirmation of the sale which was essential to the passing of the title.

I. We have a statutory proceeding to foreclose a mortgage which has been adjudged to be an action at law. Section 4342, Eevised Statutes 1899, provides that a mortgagee may file his petition in the circuit court [316]*316against the mortgagor and those in possession of the property “setting forth the substance of the mortgage deed, and praying that judgment may he rendered for the debt or damages, and that the equity of redemption may be foreclosed, and the mortgaged property sold to satisfy the amount. ’ ’ In that brief quotation is defined the entire scope of the petition contemplated in the proceeding there authorized. The judgment to be entered in such a suit, if plaintiff is successful, is prescribed in sections 4350 and 4351 following, which is, if the mortgagor has not been summoned or does not appear, that the plaintiff “recover the debt and damages, or damages, found to be due, and costs, to be levied of the mortgaged property, ’ ’ and if the mortgagor has been summoned or appears, the judgment in addition to the above is to be “that if the mortgaged property is not sufficient to satisfy said debt and damages, or damages and costs, then the residue to be levied of other goods and chattels, lands and tenements of said mortgagor. ’ ’

That is the statutory proceeding which this court from the beginning has decided to be an action at law as distinguished from a suit in equity. [Thayer v. Campbell, 9 Mo. 281; Riley v. McCord, 24 Mo. 265; Fithian v. Monks, 43 Mo. 502; Pemberton v. Johnson, 46 Mo. 342.] The proceeding there contemplated deals with no uncertain parties and no equivocal titles. Tho parties are the mortgagee on the one side and the mortgagor and the man in possession on the other; the one holding the legal title with a defeasance, the other holding the equity of redemption and the possession; the only duties of the court are to ascertain the amount due on the mortgage debt and pass judgment that the property he sold for the amount so ascertained and that execution issue,for the balance, if any, against the mortgagor ’s other property. "When that is all there' is of substance in a case it is a suit at law, even though the petition denominate it a suit in equity and states the [317]*317case in language more appropriate to bills in equity. [Riley v. McCord, 24 Mo. 265.]

' But the remedy given by that statute is not exclusive. Courts of equity retain their original jurisdiction and mortgages are still foreclosed through equity jurisprudence. [McClurg v. Phillips, 49 Mo. 315; Hanna v. Davis, 112 Mo. 599; Brim v. Fleming, 135 Mo. 597.] If a case which involves, among other things, the foreclosure of a mortgage must for that reason be limited to the proceeding given in the statute, that proceeding would often be found to be inadequate, because, while under its forms the amount of the debt can be ascertained and the equity of redemption be ordered to be sold to pay it and execution against the mortgagor-awarded for the balance, if any, yet there may be other complications involved which only a court of equity can adjust. [Wolff v. Ward, 104 Mo. 127.] In our code of civil procedure we start out by saying that there shall be but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights which is to be called a civil action (section 539, R. S. 1899), yet we do not say, and it would be futile to say, that we no longer observe the fundamental distinctions that exist between causes that are to be adjudged according to principles of equity and those that are to be measured by the rules of law. And whilst we submit all causes to the judgment of one court of the highest original jurisdiction, yet, in order to render that court competent to fulfill its duty, we have been compelled to clothe its presiding officer not only with the attributes of a law judge, but also with those of a chancellor. Hnder our judicial system, the distinction between law and equity is as clearly observed as it is under the'systems in vogue in those States in which separate courts are held for the disposal of equity causes.

Whether a cause arising in the circuit court is to be judged to be an action at law or a suit in equity must depend on the facts of the case, and although the form [318]*318of the pleadings and of the judgment or decree may have some influence, yet the substance of the controversy must control the decision of the question. If the pleader in his petition, or the court in its decree, has through misconception of the nature of the cause added something inconsistent with its true nature, such may or may not, according to its bearing on the case, render the proceeding erroneous, but it .will not change its character in respect to the .question as to its being an action at law or a suit in equity.

To determine, therefore, whether the foreclosure suit with which we have now to deal was a suit in equity or a proceeding under the statutes, let us first look at the pleadings. According to the petition the facts of the case are as follows: The plaintiff is the holder of past due notes, and a deed of trust to secure them, which were executed in 1892. by the Wyandotte Hall Joint Stock Company (which will hereinafter be called the Stock Company) which was chartered by a special act of the General Assembly in 1857. Wyandotte Lodge No. 35 of the Independent'Order of Odd Fellows (which will hereafter be called the Lodge) is and was in 1857 and had been long prior to that date a voluntary association for charitable and benevolent purposes. The Lodge consisted of about 125 members, and under its constitution, and by-laws James O. McKeehan, L. B. Austin, and Samuel M. Taylor, who are defendants in the suit, are the trustees to own, hold and manage all the property of the Lodge. In 1857 the Lodge, being desirous of acquiring real estate and erecting a house or hall in which to hold its meetings, and being unable in itself to raise the required capital, in order to obtain outside financial assistance, promoted and obtained the incorporation of the Stock Company. It was" provided in the charter that the trustees of the Lodge were to have the privilege of purchasing the stock of the Stock Company, and acting on that right they did purchase and have since held and now hold all the stock of the [319]*319corporation for the nse of the Lodge. In 1892 the Lodge, being desirous of erecting a new building for its use, by resolution authorized the Stock Company to borrow $25,000 for that purpose, and to secure the same by deed of trust on the land described in the petition, the title to which was then held by the corporation for the use of the Lodge. In accordance with that direction the corporation borrowed that amount of money from one Snyder, and to secure the same executed its notes and the deed of trust in question.

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Bluebook (online)
75 S.W. 914, 176 Mo. 310, 1903 Mo. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-wyandotte-lodge-no-35-of-the-independent-order-of-odd-mo-1903.