Hitch v. Bailey
Hitch v. Bailey
Opinion of the Court
Hitch brought an action in trespass against Bailey,. Thigpen, and Tanner, to recover damages for cutting and removing timber from lot of land number two hundred ahd eighty-six, in the-sixth district of Coffee county, Georgia. The defendants denied liability. The case was tried under an agreed statement of facts,, in which it was conceded that if the plaintiff held superior title to-the land, he was entitled to recover $200; and the only legal question which arises under the admitted facts is, whether the plaintiff showed such a title in himself to the lot of land on which the alleged trespass was committed as entitled him to recover. The case-was submitted for determination by the judge without the intervention of a jury, and a judgment was rendered in favor of the defendants, to which Hitch excepted. There is nothing in the record which shows, or from which it can be inferred, on what part of the-lot the alleged trespass was committed. It was admitted that the land belonged originally to Jeff. Kirkland, and the title of the plaintiff was derived from him in the following manner: A judgment was rendered in favor of the Bradley Fertilizer Company against.
The lien of the judgment of the Chesapeake company was superior to that of the Bradley company, but inferior to that of the unforeclosed mortgage. At the sale under the common-law fi. fa. of the Bradley Fertilizer Company it was agreed between Kirkland, defendant in fi. fa. and mortgagor, and the Bradley company, plaintiff in fi. fa. and mortgagee, that the entire estate should be sold, and that the purchaser should, take under the lien of the mortgage in the same manner as if his mortgage had been foreclosed; and it is contended, under the Civil Code, § 2759, that, this having been agreed to at and before the sale under the judgment in favor of the Bradley company, the purchaser at that sale took title to the entire estate, and holds the same, not only under the lien of the common-law judgment, but also under the lien of the mortgage, and that the title so acquired is superior to that which vested in Tanner to the south half of the lot by virtue of the sale under the older common-law judgment in favor of the Chesapeake company. This is not a sound contention. When the land was sold under the common-law judgment in favor of the Chesapeake company, the purchaser at that sale acquired all the interest which the defendant Kirkland had in the south half of the lot of land. That was the equity of redemption. Tarver v. Ellison, 57 Ga. 54; Cottle v. Harrold, 72 Ga. 830; DeVaughn v. Byrom, 110 Ga. 904, and cases cited. After such sale Kirkland had no further interest in that part of the land. Having none, no consent which he might thereafter have given would authorize the entire estate to be sold under the common-law
The plaintiff in error sought to recover a judgment by way of damages for a trespass which he alleged was committed on the lot of land, to the whole of which he claims title. As has been shown, he has no title to the south half of the lot. He does not allege that the defendants committed a trespass on the north half. Therefore, under the admitted facts found in the record, he was not entitled to recover, and a judgment in favor of the defendants was properly rendered.
Judgment affirmed.
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- HITCH v. BAILEY
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