Bernal v. Hovious
Bernal v. Hovious
Opinion of the Court
Cope, J. concurring.
This is an action for the possession of five hundred and twenty sacks of oats, ninety-three sacks of wheat and two hundred sacks of barley, alleged to be the property of the plaintiff, and to have been unlawfully taken and detained by the defendants; and arises upon the following facts: Some time in 1857, one José Maria Vasques entered into a verbal agreement with one Nicholas Bernal in relation to the use and cultivation of a farm situated in San Mateo county. The agreement is called by the parties a lease. The substance of Vasques’ testimony with reference to it is, that he leased the premises to Bernal for three years ; that the lease was not in writing, but that by its terms he was to furnish the'Seed, the
After the grain had been put up in sacks, but before any division between the plaintiff and Vasques, and whilst it was yet in the field, an attachment was issued against the property of Vasques and Nicholas Bernal, and placed in the hands of the Sheriff of San Mateo county, and under it his deputy seized and removed the property in controversy. The defendants are the Sheriff and the Deputy Sheriff, and the present action is for the recovery of the property thus taken. They justify under the attachment. The plaintiff obtained judgment, and hence the present appeal.
There are two questions presented for consideration; the first of which relates to the validity of the sale from Nicholas Bernal to the plaintiff; and the second to the nature of the interest possessed by the plaintiff in the grain in controversy.
1. The sale is contested on the ground that the attendant circumstances bring it within the provisions of the fifteenth section of the Statute of Frauds, which declares that, “ Every sale made by a vendor of goods and chattels in his possession or under his control, and every assignment of goods and chattels, unless the same be accompanied by an immediate delivery, and be followed by an actual and continued change of possession of things sold or assigned, shall be conclusive evidence of fraud as against the creditors of the vendor, or the creditors of the person making
2. The agreement for the use of the farm, though designated by the parties as a lease, is not one in our judgment. It is a contract for the working of the farm upon shares—Vasques of the one part agreeing to furnish the farming implements, the wagons, the horses, and the seed; and Nicholas Bernal, on the other part, agreeing to work the farm, and to give to Vasques one-third the grain after it is put in sacks; and) until a division was made between them, the parties were tenants in common of the grain. The agreement is not materially different from the one in the case of Caswell v. Districh (15 Wend. 379). There it was to let the defendant have the farm for one year, he to sow different kinds of grain and to give the testator a portion of the crops raised; and the Court held that the agreement was a letting of the premises upon shares, and that the parties were tenants in common of the crops. The case of Putnam v. Wise (1 Hill, 235) is a much stronger case than the one at bar, and is conclusive of the point that Vasques and the plaintiff were
These authorities are conclusive upon the second question pre
Judgment reversed and cause remanded for a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BERNAL v. HOVIOUS
- Cited By
- 19 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Bours v. Webster, (6 Cal. 661) that growing crops are not goods and chattels within the fifteenth section of the Statute of Frauds ; and that—not being susceptible of manual delivery, until harvested and reduced to actual possession—they pass by deed or conveyance from the necessity of the case, affirmed. Vischer v. Webster, (13 Cal. 58.) that where two parties are living on a ranch, and one sells his interest in the growing crops to the other, the fact that both parties continue to live on the ranch, and that the vendee works for the vendor as a hired man, does not make the sale void as against creditors, affirmed; and the principle applied to this case. Where V., an owner of land, makes a verbal agreement with B.—which they term a lease—by which B. is to have the land for three years ; V. to furnish the farming implements, wagons, horses and his share of sacks; B. took all the land, and give V. for the use of it one-third of the grain raised, after it is put in sacks, free from the expense of threshing : Held, that this agreement is not a lease, but a contract for working the farm upon shares; and that the parties are tenants in common of the grain, until a division be made. Held, further, that a Sheriff having an attachment against Y. may levy on his interest in the grain; and to effect this, may take and detain possession of the entire quantity of grain; but he can sell under the execution on the judgment that may be recovered in the action only the undivided one-third interest of V.—the purchaser at the sale becoming tenant in common with B.