Cross v. Bank of Ensley
Cross v. Bank of Ensley
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Z. Cross and his son R. C. Cross filed the original bill in this cause against the Bank of Ensley, seeking the exercise of the equity of redemption as to two certain mortgages held by said bank, one executed by Z. Cross and his wife to G. P. Martin, which the bank held as transferee, and the other executed by R. C. Cross and wife direct to said bank.
It was insisted that the complainants were entitled to certain credits which would largely reduce the debt as claimed by the respondents, and that more than 8 per cent, interest had been charged.
By an amendment to the bill the ownership of the bank as to the mortgage of Z. Cross was attacked on the ground that the same had been transferred by the original mortgagee, G. P. Martin, through a separate instrument which was not witnessed or acknowledged. The mortgage of R. C. Cross to the respondent bank was attacked upon the ground that it was executed on Sunday, and that it was neither witnessed nor acknowledged. It was also stated in a general way that some of the lands embraced in the mortgage of R. C. Cross were his homestead.
The bill was answered, and the respondent bank also filed a cross-bill seeking the foreclosure of said mortgages. A decree was entered referring the question of indebtedness to the register for an accounting and ascertainment of the amount due; but the parties subsequently had this decree of reference abandoned, and consented that the cause should be tried before the court by oral testimony and final decree thus rendered. This course was pursued, resulting in a decree dismissing the complainants’ bill as amended, and granting to the cross-complainants the relief sought in the cross-bill, ordering a foreclosure of the mortgages after a reasonable time within which the cross-respondents were permitted to satisfy the indebtedness found to be due by the court. From this decree this appeal is prosecuted and errors separately assigned.
[5] It is further urged that the mortgage of R. C. Cross is void for the reason that it was executed on Sunday. While the evidence does show that R. C. Cross signed this mortgage at the home of his father on Sunday, yet there is evidence tending to show that he left the instrument with his father to be delivered by the latter to the bank. The mortgage duly signed and dated and delivered at a subsequent date, takes effect from the date of the delivery.
“The writing and signing of a note on Sunday is not the execution of it on that day, unless it be delivered on that day to the payee; delivery being essential to make it operative as a contract. If delivered on a subsequent day, not Sunday, it takes effect as a valid instrument from the day of delivery.” Woodstock Iron Co. v. Richardson, 94 Ala. 629, 16 South. 144.
There is evidence from which it may be reasonably inferred that R. C. Cross left the mortgage at his father’s home on Sunday with the understanding, at least impliedly, that the father should deliver the same to the bank, as he had requested the execution of the mortgage by his son for his (the father’s) protection, and that the mortgage was subsequently delivered to the bank by the father on a secular day. We conclude, therefore, that this insistence is also without merit. Flanagan v. Meyer, 41 Ala. 135.
As to whether or not the mortgagor is now precluded from hereafter asserting any homestead right or making any homestead selection is not a question presented here for consideration, and as to which, therefore, we intimate no opinion. We cite without comment Kennedy v. First Nat. Bk., 107 Ala. 170, 18 South. 396, 36 L. R. A. 308. It may be that the matter was given scant consideration on account of the fact that the bank also held by transfer a mortgage on the same property executed by Z. Cross to G. P. Martin, the validity of which is not here attacked.
We have here considered the questions presented by counsel for appellants upon this appeal, and, finding no error, the decree of the court below will be here affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CROSS Et Al. v. BANK OF ENSLEY
- Cited By
- 19 cases
- Status
- Published