Rhett v. Georgia Land & Cotton Co.
Rhett v. Georgia Land & Cotton Co.
Opinion of the Court
An execution, issued on a decree from Troup superior -court, was levied on a tract of land in Dougherty county, •and the land was claimed. The execution and decree were in favor of Rliett, as trustee of Mrs. Barnard, against John D. Barnard, administrator on the estate of her deceased husband, to recover large sums due the wife as her separate property- from that estate, which the decedent had invested in property in this state, and particularly in this land levied on in this case. The bill on which this decree was based was brought in I860; and after the bill was brought, but before the decree was rendered, the land was administered and sold as the property of Barnard, the deed having been made to him, and the title, to all appearances, being in him ; ;at this sale, one Wetter bought the land and took possession, and afterwards sold and conveyed it to the claimant; •all questions of law and fact were submitted to the judge by agreement of the parties, and he held that the land was not subject, and to this judgment in favor of the claimant the plaintiff in. execution excepted, and the question is this : Is this land subject to this decree in behalf of the wife, be•eause her money bought it, notwithstanding the administration of the land, and its regular sale by the administrator, and the purchase thereof at that sale by the grantor of the claimant %
In 45 Ga., 585, 46 Ga., 389, 49 Ga., 274, and 58 Ga., 451, it is ruled that the purchaser at such sale does get a good title over any judgment lien, especially where the estate is insolvent, even over a judgment obtained in the lifetime of the intestate; and that the lien is transferred from the property sold to the proceeds in the hands of the administrator. And in 59 Ga., 516, the same rule is applied to the specific lien of a mortgage. So that it seems clear, that even if this were a case where notice from lis pendens would apply to this purchaser, who had no actual notice, and bought the land under regular administrator’s sale in another county where it was administered, and title regularly conveyed to him, the decree being rendered in a county foreign to the administration of the estate, and where the land is not located, and defendant’s residence therein being doubtful, still this regular and fair sale, under an
3. The counsel for plaintiff in error, seeing this result, cited 2 Wallace, 249, and 7 Dana, 110, to show that the bill operated as an equitable levy — with a view to put this case within Carlton vs. Davant et al., executors, 58 Ga., 451, where it was held that if the land was levied on at the time of sale the lien would not be divested. But those cases seem to rest on the fact that the bill was brought to subject the property where it was located, to a pre-existing judgment at law — the case in 2 Wallace being a mere reference to 7 Dana. In 58 Ga. there was an actual levy — a seizure by the sheriff; and the reasoning there would not consist with a mere constructive or imaginary levy.
On the whole the judgment, we think, is right, and it must be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rhett, trustee v. The Georgia Land and Cotton Company
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- 1 case
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- Published