Tscherne v. Crane-Johnson Co.

227 N.W. 479, 56 S.D. 101, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 244
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 19, 1929
DocketFile No. 6649
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 227 N.W. 479 (Tscherne v. Crane-Johnson Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tscherne v. Crane-Johnson Co., 227 N.W. 479, 56 S.D. 101, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 244 (S.D. 1929).

Opinion

MIS-ER, C.

This appeal presents for construction a warranty deed -which, when stripped of all language not necessary to its construction, is as follows:

[103]*103“Math Tscherne, * * * grantor, * * * for and in consideration of love and affection and the sum of $1.00, grants conveys and warrants to Louisa M. M. Janisch, grantee, * * * [160 acres in Marshall county].
“Subject to condition that the said described property shall not be mortgaged or incumbered, but that the title thereto shajl remain clear and free of incumbrances. Said grant and conveyance to the said Louisa M. M. Janisch shall ¡be to and for her during the term of her natural life, and upon her death the fee-simple title herein shall be vested in equal shares in each of the living heirs of her ■body at that time, to be determined in the manner provided by law in the termination of life estate.
“Dated this 25th day of October, 1921.
“Math Tscherne.”

This deed was duly acknowledged and thereafter duly recorded. Thereafter Louisa M. M. Janisch and1 her husband purchased from appellant Crane-Johnson Company materials for the construction of buildings on the land, and to secure the purchase price executed a mortgage on this land. On default of payment, the Crane-Johnson Company foreclosed said mortgage by an action in which Louisa M. M. Janisch and her husband were made defendants. Judgment was entered therein, and thereafter execution was delivered to appellant Magenton, as sheriff. Thereupon an action was instituted by the respondents herein to restrain appellants from selling the premises under said execution. The plaintiffs therein were the above-named grantor, the "above-named grantee and her husband, and seven minor children, appearing by their mother as guardian ad litem. To their complaint, the appellants demurred on the ground' that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. This appeal is from the order overruling the demurrer to the complaint.

Appellants, contend1 that the foregoing deed conveyed to Louisa M. M. Janisch an absolute fee title. On oral argument, appellants cite Barbour v. Finke, 52 S. D. 11, 216 N. W. 592, 595, as decisive on this appeal. It is not decisive, because the deeds are different. In that case we followed Long v. Holden, 216 Ala. 81, 112 So. 444, 446, 52 A. L. R. 536, wherein it was said: “Innumerable cases may be cited to the proposition that the cardinal rule for the construction of written instruments is to ascertain, if pos[104]*104sible, from the language employed, the intention of the parties, and then to give effect to such intention, if it can be done •without violation of law.” We adhered to that rule, declaring, however, that the law will not permit its salutary rules to be broken to meet the exigency of carelessness in the use of language (quoting Brown, v. Brown, 66 Me. 320), “deeming it better, on the whole, that the intention of a party in disposing of his property should occasionally fail, than that its [the law’s] important and firmly established rules made and applied for the benefit of all 'be overridden.” It is therefore our first task to gather from the instrument itself the intention of the grantor; next, to see whether any established rules of construction prevent the giving effect to such intention.

At common law it was considered that the words “and to his heirs,” or “and to the heirs of his body,” following a grant purporting to be an estate for life, necessarily implied that the heirs mentioned should take by inheritance from the life tenant, and not directly from the grantor; hence, under the rule in Shelley’s Case, it followed that the deed was understood as passing the fee to him, as well as the life estate. But, even under the common law, when the deed contained words which modified or qualified those phrases to such an extent that a reasonable interpretation of the grant was that the grantor intended thereby to designate the persons who should take the estate on the death of the life tenant, direct from the grantor, and b)' virtue of the grant, the rule in Shelley’s Case would not control. See Gordon v. Cadwalader, 164 Cal. 5°9> 13° P-18, 20, where this is fully discussed and authorities collected. The following' illustrations are taken therefrom:

“The words, 'and upon his demise to the heirs of him surviving, share and share alike,’ show that the word 'heirs’ was used to describe particular persons, and not the line of succession, and the rule was held inapplicable. Burges v. Thompson, 13 R. I. 714. * * * So, also, of the words: * * * ‘Shall be inherited by the surviving issue of my said niece, share and share alike’ (Hill v. Giles, 201 Pa. 215, 50 A. 758); ‘and at her death to the issue of her body then living’ (Gadsden v. Desportes, 39 S. C. 131, 17 S. E. 706); * * * ‘to the heirs of his body begotten if there be any such heirs Mm surviving’ (Granger v. Granger, 147 Ind. 95, 44 N. E. 189, 46 N. E. 80, 36 L. R. A. 186, 190); ‘heirs of his body living at the time of his death’ (Moore v. Parker, 34 N. C. 127).”

[105]*105The words italicized were held to have the effect of making the conveyance to the first taker that of a life estate, and not a fee-simple or fee-tail estate. If the language above italicized was sufficient for that purpose in jurisdictions where the rule in Shel-le)r’s Case was in force, we see no reason why the modifying word's in the deed now before us should be any less effective, under section 329, Rev. Code 1919. This section is identical with section 779, Civ. Code Cal., the adoption of which abolished the rule in Shelley’s Case in California. It is as follows :

“When a remainder is limited to the heirs, or heirs of the body, of a person to whom a life estate in the same property is given, the persons who, on the termination of the life estate, are the successors or heirs of the body of the owner for life, are entitled to take .by virtue of the remainder so limited to them, and not as mere successors of the owner for life.”

But it may be objected that the remainder-men were neither named nor designated in the granting clause in the deed, and therefore, under the authority of Barbour v. Finite, supra, no remainder was granted or limited by the deed. It is true that, in the granting clause, the property is conveyed to Louisa M. M. Janisch, grantee. The deed, however, proceeds: “Said grant and conveyance to. the said Louisa M. M. Janisch shall be to and for her during the term of her natural life and, upon her death, the fee-simple title herein shall be vested in equal shares in each of the living heirs of her ‘body at that time.” This language explains and refers back to the said grant to the said Louisa M. M. Janisch in the granting clause.

Furthermore, the douibt, if any, remaining- as to the grantor’s intention to convey to Louisa M. M. Janisch a life estate, and to convey to the heirs of her -body living at the time of her death the fee-simple title, subject to such life estate, would be removed by the closing sentence of the deed. There, following the words “upon her death the fee-simple title herein shall be vested in equal shares in each of the living heirs of her body at that time,” occur the words: “To be determined in the manner provided by the law in the termination of life estate,”

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Bluebook (online)
227 N.W. 479, 56 S.D. 101, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tscherne-v-crane-johnson-co-sd-1929.