Smith v. Roberts
Smith v. Roberts
Opinion of the Court
There are several assignments of error made to the ruling of the court refusing to dismiss the petition. From the view which we take of the case, it is only necessary to refer to two questions presented by the motion to dismiss. It is a general proposition, well recognized in equity pleading and practice, that one who submits a bid for property offered for sale by a receiver under order of the court, brings himself within the jurisdiction of the “court for the purpose of .having the sale completed; and to this end the court may by rule or attachment compel the bidder to perform his part of the contract, and either pay the amount of his bid and take the property, or make good the difference between his bid and the amount realized at a subsequent sale of the same property. But the plaintiff in error avers that he was a resident of the county of Oglethorpe and was not at the time the petition was filed, nor now, a resident of Lowndes county where the proceedings were pending, and that the superior court of Oglethorpe county alone has jurisdiction of him for the trial of the matters alleged against him in the petition, and that the constitution of this State, in par. 6, sec. 16 of art. 6, fixes the venue of such a suit against him in the coupty of Oglethorpe where he resides. We do not find it necessary, however, to discuss- or decide the question of jurisdiction raised in this case, because on its merits, as shown by the petition, the case must be adjudged against the defendants in error. Assuming that the superior court of Lowndes county had acquired jurisdiction of plaintiff in error, for the purpose of compelling him to pay the difference between the amount of his bid and that which the property brought at a resale, it only becomes material to pass on the question raised in the fifth ground of the motion to dismiss. That is, it does not appear from the petition or the record in the case that the property sold on the first Tuesday in April, 1897, was the same and the whole of the property bid for by the plaintiff in error. In express terms, the written bid alleged to have been made by Smith was for the purchase of “the sawmill, planing-mill, engines, boilers, locomotives, tramroads, railroad-iron, and all fixtures, furniture, and utensils and appurtenances, and all other property of any kind, character, and description, owned by the
It is contended that when this bid was submitted and accepted by the court, a valid sale was completed, under the terms, of which the receiver was entitled to have the purchase-money, on tender of the property according to the terms of the bid. Assuming the bid to have been made, such a conclusion must follow. The compilers of the American and English Encyclopaedia of Law, in vol. 12, p. 234, have, from authorities cited in notes 1 and 2, condensed the rules which are applicable to the question under consideration, in the following language; “Where the sale is made under a decree in chancery, the power of the court to enforce the contract of purchase is broader than in case of an ordinary execution sale. In addition to an action at law to recover the amount bid, or the deficiency upon a resale, the court of chancery may, upon motion, or proper application, (1) set aside the sale, release the purchaser, and decree a resale; or (2) ratify the sale and decree a specific performance of the contract, enforcing its order by attachment and commitment of the person of the purchaser for contempt; or (3) order a resale, holding the purchaser liable for any deficiency, and for the costs of the resale.” See also, Jones on Mortgages,
The applicability of the principles ruled may be questioned when sought to be followed in a court of equity. It may be answered, however, that equity is ancillary, not antagonistic to the law; that it follows the law where the rule of law is applicable, and the analogy of the law where no rule is directly applicable. Civil Code, § 3928. We are not now dealing with the powers of a court of equity to enforce its orders, nor attempting to limit the practice incident to such courts to enforce its decrees or adjudications by rule or attachment; but the principles which govern the liability of a purchaser of property, for a deficiency in price on a resale, must be the same whether it arises in a suit at law under a sale made under legal process issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the sale be had under an order of the same court, by a receiver, in the exercise of its chancery powers, and the proceeding is in the nature of a petition for attachment. The incidents are different, but the rules of law which afford a defense, when resting on similar facts, must be the same in both jurisdictions. In the case of Hendrick v. Davis, 27 Ga. 171, which was a suit to recover the difference between the amount originally bid and that which the property brought at a resale by the sheriff, the court ruled: “For Hendrick to be liable, the same property must have been resold, and resold as the property of the identical defendants as whose property it had been bid off by him.” In the case of Saunders v. Bell, 56 Ga. 442, which was an administrator’s sale, it was ruled that a nonsuit was proper where the resale was delayed twelve months. See also Cureton v. Wright, 73 Ga. 8. As we have seen, the bid of Smith was made for the property as a whole, and in a certain condition relatively to its situation as it existed at a particular time, December 13, 1895. In order to hold Smith liable for the difference between his bid and the amount realized at a resale, it is a. condition precedent
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SMITH v. ROBERTS, receiver
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published