Sweetland v. Buell

35 N.Y.S. 346, 89 Hun 543, 96 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 543, 69 N.Y. St. Rep. 733
New York Supreme Court·Decided October 16, 1895·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

BRADLEY, J.

The plaintiff seeks to compel the determination of a claim made by Jonathan S. Buell, the original defendant, to certain real property in the city of Buffalo, to which the plaintiff alleges title in himself. The lot in question is part of a tract of land of which Elijah Holt became the owner prior to 1819. On the 5th day of February of that year one Heacock recovered in the Niagara, court of common pleas a judgment against Holt for $310, upon which judgment was issued to the sheriff a fieri facias, tested June 5, 1819. In the sheriff’s deed, of date April 12, 1820, it is recited that by virtue of that execution and another issued on. a judgment against Holt and one Cotton, and tested February 12,1820, he seized the land, and sold it to Asa Rice and Joseph Clary, “said Asa and Joseph being executors of John Dill,” deceased, for the sum of $320, followed by grant to Rice and Clary of all the estate, title, and interest which Elijah Holt had in the premises on the 5th day of February, 1819. At the time of the sheriff’s sale, Rice and Clary were partners in business in the village of Buffalo, and, although they were executors of the will of Dill, it may be assumed that they by the purchase became tenants in common of whatever estate in the premises was conveyed by the sheriff’s deed. Asa Rice died in 1823, leaving three children,—John D., aged 11 years; Norman Clary, aged 5 years; and Henry, aged 3 years. A warranty deed of date February 5, 1819, expressing a consideration of $1,887.50, and recorded February 6, 1819, was made of the premises by Elijah Holt to Williams Holt, who, by warranty deed of date October 17, 1829, expressing consideration of $200, and recorded same day, conveyed the premises, including those in question, to Joseph ClaryBy the statute as it then was, the docketing of a judgment was not [347] essential to a sale of land by virtue of an execution issued upon it, but it was provided that no judgment not docketed should “affect any lands or tenements as to purchasers or mortgagees.” 1 Rev. Laws, c. 50, §§ 1, 3. The undocketed judgment, however, was then a lien, and in equity had priority as against a purchaser or mortgagee having notice of it when he made the purchase or took his mortgage. Buchan v. Sumner, 2 Barb. Ch. 165. The Heacock judgment against Elijah Holt was not docketed, and, assuming that the judgment was entered prior to the delivery of the deed by the latter to-Williams Holt, it did not affect the latter if he was a purchaser without notice of the judgment. The expression of consideration in the deed within the recording act is prima facie evidence that the purchase was for a valuable consideration. Hendy v. Smith, 49 Hun, 510, 2 N. Y. Supp. 535; Wood v. Chapin, 13 N. Y. 509. And as there is no evidence that Williams Holt had any notice of the judgment when he took the conveyance, it cannot be assumed that he then had notice of it. Jackson v. Elsten, 12 Johns. 452; Dey v. Dunham, 2 Johns. Ch. 182; Brown v. Volkening, 64 N. Y. 76. The apparent situation as represented by the record of the deed of Elijah Holt to Williams Holt was such as to give apprehension that the title may have been conveyed by it to the latter. Such was the effect if it was made and taken in good faith for a valuable consideration; and therefore it was desirable to obtain conveyance from that grantee in support of the title derived from the sheriff’s deed. In view of his relation as tenant in common with the heirs of Asa Rice, Clary was not permitted to purchase the outstanding title exclusively for himself, but, as between him and them, such purchase inured to their benefit also, and they were chargeable with their proportionate share of the expense of it. Van Horne v. Fonda, 5 Johns. Ch. 388; Burhans v. Van Zandt, 7 N. Y. 523; Carpenter v. Carpenter, 131 N. Y. 101, 29 N. E. 1013. But Clary evidently did not contemplate any benefit to the heirs of Asa Rice by his purchase from Holt, as he had before then, by warranty deed of date September 13, 1828, recorded November 5, 1828, and expressing a consideration of $1,340, conveyed the. premises covered by the sheriff’s deed to Martin Koebel and Adam Pforter; and Pforter conveyed to Martin Koebel an undivided half of the premises by warranty deed of date December 31, 1828, recorded March 14, 1868, expressing a consideration of $1,600; and Martin Koebel conveyed the premises to Philip Koebel by warranty deed of date August 1, 1864, recorded February 27, 1868, expressing a consideration of $2,500. The land conveyed by all those deeds was a tract of many acres, and in it was included the premises in question. As early as 1829 the grantees in the deeds had actual possession of the land, occupied and worked it for farming purposes, raising crops upon it annually until it was conveyed by Philip Koebel to Elam R. Jewett by warranty deed of date September 7, 1868, and recorded September 10, 1868, expressing a consideration of $6,000; and after such conveyance the land was occupied and worked for agricultural purposes under and by Jewett until after his conveyance of it to the Park Side Land Improvement Company, which was made by deed of date [348] November 1, 1885, recorded March 16, 1886, expressing a consideration of $44,148. This company having possession of the land, after-wards, in 1888, divided it up into lots, laid out streets, graded it, and put the lots into the market; and in May, 1892, the company conveyed to the plaintiff one of the lots, which is the land in question, by deed recorded May 24,1892. He thereupon went into possession of the lot.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Sweetland v. Buell, 35 N.Y.S. 346, 89 Hun 543, 96 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 543, 69 N.Y. St. Rep. 733 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1895).

35 N.Y.S. 346 (Sweetland v. Buell) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

McAuliff v. Hughes
128 A.D. 355 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1908)