Balchin v. Jones
Balchin v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
H. E. B. Paddock owed J. J. Balcbin an open account, and, absconding, left certain personal property in Elbert county. After Paddock had absconded Balchin procured the issuance of an attachment, which was levied on certain personal property of Paddock’s, described in the attachment. Later a special judgment was entered on this attachment, in favor of Balchin against Paddock, but it does not appear that there was any record of the execution. Jones, the defendant in error, had procured a bill of sale from Paddock, by which the latter, for the purpose of securing an indebtedness of $500, due by him to Jones conveyed “a full and complete title” to Jones,, his heirs and assigns, to “the following property, to wit: all household furniture, pictures, stove and kitchen utensils, wash pot, tubs, canned fruit, sewing machine, harness, fodder, oats, etc., and all articles not mentioned in the above; also the following in office: drugs, books, instruments, etc., with the exception of desk and book-case, property of Tunnison & Co., and a certain amount of instruments, property of Dr. J. Matthews.” The contract of sale recited that “this deed is made and executed in pursuance of the provisions of § 2771 et sequitur of the Civil Code of 1895,” and purported to be signed also by Beulah D. Paddock, and to have been executed in the presence of John T.' Eagan, “Commissioner of Deeds, Troy, New York” (as evidenced by that officer’s certificate), in January, 1910. The fact that it bore evidence of having been recorded is immaterial, because the entry of the clerk shows that it was put to record after the suing out of the writ of certiorari in this case. Balehin’s attachment, based upon the ground that Paddock “absconds,” was, on October 15, 1910, levied on certain household effects, and also on certain drugs, books, and instruments, such as were referred to in the bill of sale to Jones, 'as well as on some articles minutely described in the levy, which were not claimed. Dpon the levy of the attachment Jones filed a claim to such of the property as was apparently within the descriptive terms employed in the bill of sale. He interposed
1. The first objection urged by the plaintiff below against the admission of the bill of sale which we have quoted was that the description of the property intended to be conveyed was insufficient to serve as means of identification, so as to make the instrument a valid conveyance. In support of this contention he cites § 3257 and § 4186 of the Civil Code (1910); Thomas Furniture Co. v. T. & C. Furniture Co., 120 Ga. 882 (48 S. E. 333); Broach v. O’Neal, 94 Ga. 475 (3), (20 S. E. 113). We do not think that the contention is sustained by the authorities cited; indeed, it appears to be without merit. When the description is aided by parol evidence, explanatory of the terms used in the bill of sale, it is such as to prevent the instrument from being void because of insufficiency in the description of the property conveyed. See Beatty v. Sears, 132 Ga. 516 (64 S. E. 321); Duke v. Neisler, 134 Ga. 594 (68 S. E. 327). In Broach v. O’Neal, supra, cited by counsel for the plaintiff in error, it was held that “ it is only when a description of the premises is manifestly too meager, imperfect, or uncertain to serve as adequate means of identification that the court can adjudge the description insufficient as matter of law.” In Patterson v. Evans, 91 Ga. 799 (18 S. E. 31), in which mortgaged premises were described in these terms: “ two hundred and ninety acres, more or less, of land situate in the fifth district of Wilkinson county, upon which an encumbrance of $125 exists, due October 15, 1888, taking priority of this mortgage; also two gins and one gristmill located on said described land,” the description was held to be “ very meager and vague,” but it was ruled that “whether such
2. But even if the description in the bill of sale was defective, parol evidence was admissible in aid of the description. Thomas Furniture Co. v. T. & C. Furniture Co., supra. In the first headnote of that decision it is said that “In providing that a mortgage or a conditional bill of sale shall specify the property on which it is to take effect, the law does not require such a description as will serve to identify the property without the aid of parol evidence.” There was, therefore, no error in the admission of parol evidence in aid of the description contained in the bill of sale.
3. Balchin’s next ground of objection to the admission of the bill of sale in evidence was that “the plaintiff’s lien on the property claimed dated from the levy of the attachment; and the bill of sale, not having been recorded before the date of the levy, nor even at the time of the trial of the claim case, could not and would not put plaintiff on notice of claimant’s interest in the property claimed, based on said bill of sale, and should not be admitted' to defeat plaintiff’s lien, which was established before the record of said bill of sale, plaintiff’s lien having been established by operation of law and not by contract.”- We see no error in overruling this objection. ■ Under the terms of the Civil Code (1910), § 4208, the recording of a bill of sale is not compulsory; it is merely permissive. The failure to record in time may subject the holder of a bill of sale to the risk of loss by reason of the superior diligence of the holder of some junior lien created by contract, but if he really has obtained title prior to the creation of a lien by law, his title will not be defeated by the mere failure to record. Donovan v. Simmons, 96 Ga. 340 (22 S. E. 966). In the case at bar the plaintiff had a judgment on an attachment, and this judgment had never been entered upon any execution docket of the county; and, as already stated, Jones’s bill of sale had not been recorded; so neither party’s rights were dependent upon the record. In the Donovan ease, supra, the execution, issued on the judgment against James, was entered on the general execution docket on April 19, 1893, and the
4, 5. The objection urged by the plaintiff in error to the attestation of the bill of sale, that it was inadmissible because it purported to have been witnessed by a “commissioner'of deeds, Troy, New' York,” whereas the law required that it be executed before a commissioner of deeds for the State of Georgia, seems to be without merit. The only objection was to the attestation.- No objection based upon the ground that the execution of the instrument in question had not been proved was made, and, by the failure to object, proof of the execution was waived. Bowen v. Frick, 75 Ga. 786 (3-b). In that case it was held that the proper exception to be taken to the introduction of the notes was an objection that they were inadmissible for want of proof of execution, and, this specific objection not being made, the necessity for such proof was waived. See, also, Anderson v. Cuthbert, 103 Ga. 771 (30 S. E. 244), where the Bowen case is cited, and it is said that “failure on the part of the defendants to object to the introduction of the paper in evidence would amount to a waiver of the necessity of proof of its execution, for the purpose of its admission in evidence.” The objection which should have been made was that the execution of the instrument had not been proved. • The objection actually made only raised the point that the person purporting to attest the exeeu
The objection that the bill of sale was void on its face, because signed by the wife as security for her husband, is not insisted upon in the brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error, and therefore must be treated as abandoned.
An objection was interposed to testimony on the part of the claimant that he had told Balchin, before the levy of the attachment, that he, Jones, held the bill of sale in question. The objection urged to this testimony was that the only notice which, under the law, could or would be binding on the plaintiff, under the facts of the case, or that could defeat his lien on the property claimed, would be notice given by the record of the bill of sale, and proof of any other notice than that of the record was inadmissible in evidence on the trial of the case then before the jury. As we have already ruled that the rights of Jones, under the bill of sale, if it was in fact executed prior in date to the levy of the attachment, would not be affected by the fact that the bill of sale had or had not been recorded prior to the levy of the attachment, neither the objéetion nor the ruling upon it would seem to be material in a proper decision of the case. The decision in the Donovan ease, stfpra, is conclusive upon the point that the registry act of 1889 worked no change in the existing law as to the priority of liens ae
Judgment affirmed. Pottle, J., not presiding. ■
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BALCHIN v. JONES
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published