Callard v. Matthews
Callard v. Matthews
Opinion of the Court
This is a controversy between George Callard, plaintiff in execution, and Nancy KocTcernot, third opponent, relative to the proceeds of certain slaves which belonged to Ann Matthews, and were sold under the plaintiff’s execution.
The opponent claimed a higher privilege than the plaintiff, by. reason of a conventional mortgage recorded anterior to the registry of the plaintiff’s judgment in the proper mortgage office; there was judgment in her favor, and the plaintiff appeals.
The facts are thus stated by appellant’s counsel:
“ On the 25th March, 1851, Ann Matthews executed her promissory note for the sum of $15,000, payable to her own order on the 25th March, 1852, with interest at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum, if not paid at maturity: to secure the payment of which she executed a mortgage on certain real estate and slaves, in favor of Benjamin Van Ostern, which was recorded in the office of mortgages on the same day.
“ On the 25th April, 1851, thirteen days after the institution of the suit in the Fourth District Court against her, she, (Ann Matthews,) by act before Barnet, N. P., substituted fifteen promissory notes, for $1,000 each, subscribed by her, payable to her own order on the 25th March, 1852, with interest at 8 per cent, per annum, if not paid at maturity, for the note afore-described of $15,000, which was thereupon cancelled and delivered up to the maker.
“This act of substitution was never recorded, nor has any evidence of this transaction been placed on the records of the mortgage office.”
The opponent is the holder of three of th'e substituted notes for $1000 each, and claims the benefit of the Van Ostern mortgage recorded on the 25th March, 1851.
The plaintiff contends that, as to him, the mortgage no longer exists, because what is styled the act of substitution was never inscribed on the mortgage book.
We are of opinion with the District Judge, that no registry of that act was necessary, because the original mortgage was never erased, released, or extinguished.
The second act recites, that “ whereas, by act passed before the undersigned notary on the 25th day of March last, the appearer, Ann Matthews, motgaged and hypothecated in favor of Benjamin Van Ostern the following property,
And, thereupon, the said Miss Ann Matthews declared that the substitution of the said fifteen notes for the one previously subscribed by her, shall not in any manner affect or impair the validity of the mortgage granted in favor of the said Benjamin Van Ostern, and that the holder or holders of said notes shall be entitled to all the rights and benefits, privileges, claims and actions of, in and to the said mortgage, as amply, &c., as if they had been fully set forth and described in said act of mortgage at the time of the execution thereof.”
Here there does not seem to have been an intention to create a new debt, but simply to make a change of form in the evidence of an old one; and even the form of the instrument which evidences the debt is unchanged, with this exception only, that one negotiable note for $15,000 is divided into fifteen notes of the same tenor, for $1000 each; the consideration, the parties, the term, the total amount, the interest, and the security, are still the same.
No new mortgage is created; but Van Ostern, the original mortgagee, expressly reserves the benefit of the first mortgage to himself, as a security for the fifteen notes, which, for convenience, he had taken in lieu of the former note. No now parties intervened in the second act; the evidence of the debt in both instances, being negotiable in its form, the mortgage taken by Van Ostern as the first holder, would of course enure to the benefit of all subsequent holders, whether it were so stated in the act or not: “The sale or transfer of a debt includes every thing which is accessary to it, as suretyship, privileges, and mortgages.” 0. C., 2615.
It does not appear whether the original act of mortgage stipulated that the holder of the large note should be entitled to its benefits, for we have not a full oopy of that act in the record; but it is immaterial, for such a stipulation would be implied ; and that part of the clause of reservation in the second act may be rejected as surplusage, without impairing the rights of the opponent.
She must necessarily hold the notes through and under Van Ostern, for the authentic act informs us that they were delivered to him as the first holder, and they were drawn in such a form as to pass by delivery.
The judgment is, therefore, affirmed with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.