Wiley, Banks & Co. v. Ewing

47 Ala. 418
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 15, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 47 Ala. 418 (Wiley, Banks & Co. v. Ewing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wiley, Banks & Co. v. Ewing, 47 Ala. 418 (Ala. 1872).

Opinion

PETEES, I.

A deed in trust, for security of the payment of a debt, is to be treated as a mortgage. It is, in fact, a conveyance of an estate, by way of pledge, for the security of a debt, to become void on its payment. — 4 Kent, 147; 1 Hilliard, on Mort. 1, 2, 3; Adams’ Eq. 122 (126). Where there are several mortgages on the same land, all the mortgagees are entitled to the benefit of the security. The first (or senior) mortgagee may foreclose, and sell the land for the payment of his debt; but it is also the right of the second (or junior) mortgagee to redeem from the first, or pay off his debt, and then foreclose and sell the pledge, for the payment of his own debt; and so on to the end of any number of mortgagees. — Cullum v. Ewing, 4 Ala. 452. Hence, in'a Suit for foreclosure, all the mortgagees must be made parties, in order that they may, if they choose, exercise this right of redemption. — 2 Ala. 415, 420; Story Eq. Pl. 177, et seq. This is the legal purport of the contract. And every person who buys or sells property in this State, must be presumed to know the law governing the contract by which the title passes, and that in such case he buys a defeasible title. Ignorantia juris, quod quisque tenetur scire, neminem excusat. — 2 Bl. Com. [424]*424(Cooley’s Ed.) p. 313, at bottom; Broom’s Max. 190, et seq. The law of such contract enters into it, as if it were a stipulation of the contract itself. — 4 Wall. 535, 550.

The common law, as modified by our constitution and our statutes, is a part of the law of this State, so far as applicable to our institutions and government. — Barlow v. Lambert, 28 Ala. 704; Shep. Dig. p. 475, and cases there cited under title, Common Law. At common law, the rule in reference to mortgages applies. And if the senior mortgage has been foreclosed by a decree and sale, and the junior mortgagee has not been made a |>arty to the foreclosure suit, he is not barred of his right to redeem. In such case, the junior mortgagee, notwithstanding the decree and sale under the senior mortgage, can file his bill against the purchaser to redeem. This is an equitable right, that has nothing to do with our statute of redemptions. — Haines v. Beach, 3 John. Chan. R. 459; Swift, Ex'r, v. Edson, 5 Conn. 531; 2 Hilliard Mort. p. 131, § 48; Judson v. Emanuel et al., 1 Ala. 598, 601; Ormond, J., arguendo, 2 Ala. 420, supra.

In the case of Haines v. Beach (supra), Beach made two mortgages on the same lot of land: one to Gardner, in December, 1804; the other to Brazier, in March, 1811. In April, 1815, Gardner, the senior mortgagee, filed his bill for foreclosure and sale ; and a decree for sale was made in September, 1815; and the premises were sold by the master, under the order of the court, in November,' 1815, and Field became the purchaser, and took the master’s deed. Brazier died. Then a bill was filed by the executors and heir and devisee of Brazier,, the junior, mortgagee, against Field, the purchaser under Gardner’s foreclosure and sale. Field put in his answer and plea, admitting the senior mortgage to Gardner, and the bill and decree and sale of the premises to him by the master for $1,508, and the deed' of the master to him for the premises, of which he was put in possession, and pleaded the same in bar of the suit against him. This defense was deemed insufficient by Chancellor Kent, who presided on the trial, and the junior mortgagee was permitted to re[425]*425deem, notwithstanding the sale by the register, and his deed to Field. This case is almost precisely parallel with the case at bar.

The purchase by Ewing from Hollingsworth, the mortgagor or grantor in the deeds in trust, does not alter the case. Both the trust deeds, in this case, were recorded long before the accrual of the right'of Ewing, under his purchase from Hollingsworth. — Rev. Code, § 1558; Gimon v. Davis, 36 Ala. 592, 589; Shep. Dig. p. 700, § 24, et seq. Besides, the proofs satisfy my mind that .Ewing had sufficient actual notice of these deeds, at the time of his purchase, to put him on his guard. This was enough. — Adams Eq. 158, and notes. Hollingsworth swears that he gave Ewing actual notice of the trust deed to Wiley, Banks & Co., at the time of the sale; Ewing admits, in his first answer, that he was told by Hollingsworth, “prior to the purchase of said lands, that the deed in trust upon said lands, held by the complainants, had been fully paid off and satisfied.” Cain’s, evidence corroborates this statement. Ewing’s amended answer and Ms own deposition can not be permitted to overturn -this deliberate admission and the testimony of two witnesses, who establish its truth. The evidence overbears his denial that he had no notice.

The proofs show that the trust deed to Wiley, Banks & Co. was not a conveyance to secure a debt created at the date of the conveyance. Though the note and the mortgage bear the same date, it is very evident that the debt had been created and contracted long before, as a mercantile debt for goods purchased from the complainants. It is not, then, affected by the Code. — Rev. Code, § 1557.

It is also insisted, that the right of Wiley, Banks & Co. to redeem is barred by the statute of limitation, or by the staleness of their claim. I do not think so. The claim under the deed is not barred short of ten years. It is an instrument under seal. — Rev. Code, § 2900. After deducting the period of tíme covered by the supremacy of the rebellion, ten years had not elapsed before the bill was filed. — Coleman v. Holmes, 44 Ala. 124. The right to re[426]*426deem, in this case, depends upon the mortgage or trust deed, not upon the statute, and it subsists as long as the mortgage is not barred. The note was not barred, as there were partial payments made upon it as late as July, 1860, and by Hollingsworth himself in March, 1858. These payments remove the bar of the statute. — Revised Code, § 2914.

The limitation of two years, which applies to redemptions under the statute, does not apply to such a case as this. The two - cases are not at all the same. Under the statute, only judgment creditors can redeem. — Rev. Code, §§ 2513, 2515; Thomason v. Scales et al., 12 Ala. 309. Here, the mortgage creditor only can redeem, because the right is dependent on the mortgage. — 4 Ala. 452, supra. Under the statute, a tender of the bid of the purchaser and ten per cent, thereon per annum, together with all lawful charges, and an offer to credit the debtor with ten per cent, on the original bid, upon some subsisting judgment against him, is required to perfect the right to redeem. This may be a very small sum, as it is admeasured by the bid of the purchaser, and not by the whole debt of the mortgagor. — Revised Code, §§ 2509, 2513, 2515. But here, the second or junior mortgagee must pay off the whole mortgage debt of the senior mortgagee, if the re- • demption is from him, with costs and charges; and if from the purchaser, then the sum paid by him on his purchase, at the register’s or master’s sale under the decree of foreclosure, and interest thereon up to the offer to redeem and tender, with his costs, and also the value of the permanent and useful repairs made by such purchaser (Ewing) on the mortgaged premises, since his purchase and prior to the offer to redeem and tender'. This is quite different from the proceedings under the statute. Tbe statutory remedy is, therefore, only cumulative, and not intended to repeal the remedy in chancery at common law.

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Bluebook (online)
47 Ala. 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiley-banks-co-v-ewing-ala-1872.