Evans v. Looney
Evans v. Looney
Opinion of the Court
1. The general grounds and the first and second special grounds will be treated together. These special grounds complain of the direction of the verdict as being contrary to the law and the evidence, in that the court erred in directing a verdict for the plaintiffs, the defendants in error here, because it appeared without contradiction: that the defendants in error sold for a valuable consideration their one-half interest in the farm to Donald Evans, one of the plaintiffs in error, by warranty deed dated September 17, 1947, which was prior to the due date of the rent for the year 1947; and that thereafter, and after the payment of the rent, the defendants in error demanded one-half of the rent for 1947; and that, as a matter of law, by the sale of their one-half interest in the farm by warranty deed to Donald Evans, before the rent was paid by the tenant, the defendants in error were precluded from recovering any rental on the farm for the year 1947, regardless of whether or not the crops on the farm were mature or immature at the time of the sale, as there was no agreement between the defendants in error and the plaintiffs in error to the contrary, i.e., there was no reservation of right to any rent or rents by the grantors in the deed to Donald Evans.
It appeared that, when the sale was made, the crops—that is, the cotton on the farm—had been partially gathered, one or two bales having been picked. The defendants in error contended that, therefore, the rent was due as a matter of law when the deed was made.
The testates of the parties to this action owned as tenants in common a farm, which was rented on a year-to-year basis to one Carroll for a standing rent of five bales of cotton. The rent was payable from the first crops gathered. On September 17, 1947, the executors of the Looney estate sold the one-half interest of the estate in this farm to Donald Evans, one of the plaintiffs in error, for $2000, conveying same by warranty deed. When the plaintiffs below (the defendants in error here) sold and conveyed their one-half interest in this farm to Donald Evans, were the defendants in error entitled to their portion of the rent for that year? At the time the sale and conveyance was made, the rent had not been paid, and there was evidence to the effect that it was not due until the first crops had been gathered,
However, this rule does not mean that, where land is rented out by the owner, the one who acquires title by deed or otherwise gets the title to the crops planted thereon, as is shown by Miller v. Jackson, 190 Ga. 668 (10 S. E. 2d, 35); King v. Tilley, supra.
The interest of the landlord is the interest he had by reason of ownership of the land on which the crops grew, which was a lien on the crops, whether they were a part of the land or personal property, for the rent thereof. King v. Tilley, supra. (Code § 61-203 provides that a landlord has a special lien for rent on crops of his tenant made on his land.)
We agree with the above and reasoning thereof, and thereunder it is our opinion that the sale and conveyance by the owners of the one-half undivided interest in this land to Donald Evans transferred and conveyed to the purchaser all of the right, title, and interest of the sellers in and to the farm and the crops thereon insofar as the same were to be used by the tenant to pay the rent for the year 1947, there being no agreement to the contrary nor reservation in the deed from the defendants in error to Donald Evans. Therefore, a verdict for
2. This' being true, the assignments of error, in the remaining special grounds of the motion for a new trial need not be considered. The same are controlled by the ruling made in division 1 hereof.
It follows that the trial judge erred in overruling the motion for a new trial of the defendants below, the plaintiffs in error in this court.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.