Heirs of Singleton v. Kelly
Heirs of Singleton v. Kelly
Opinion of the Court
The motion to dismiss the appeal is overruled. The consolidated cases in which the appeal was taken, are identified by the petition and order of appeal, and the bond is given in favor of the proper party, both in her individual and representative capacities. The pleadings disclose the names of the minors to whom she is tutrix, and the bond would inure to their benefit.
Upon the merits, the cause must be decided by the construction given to the written instrument executed in Mississippi, by the aneester of the plaintiffs, on the 17th December, 1845. The instrument must speak for itself, unaided by parol evidence. It is, to all intents, an.aet of sale with a condition that it shall be defeasible upon the performance of certain acts by the grantor in his lifetime. So fiir'as appears, the grantor died without performing the acts, and the deed thus becomes absolute. Indeed, the plaintiffs, heirs of the grantor, have not pleaded that their ancestor ever paid to the grantee the moneys which were necessary to operate a defeasance of the deed. ¿
They argue that the act was a pledge and not a sale; and that, neither at its date nor at the death of their ancestor did it convey any title to the defendant’s author. There were all the requisites of a sale; a thing, a stipulated price, and a consent. Even were it to be considered in the nature of a mortgage, it would have conveyed the legal title under the law of the place where the contract was made. And, before the mortgagor could have exercised his equity of redemption, he would have been obliged to tender a full discharge of the debt for which the security was given, a tender which has not been made. There is nothing to show that the contract was an antichresis made in contemplation of the law of Louisiana, whither the contracting parties subsequently removed.
The judgment is, therefore, affirmed with costs.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The instrument get up as title by the defendants is evidently one of those deeds of trust, common in the State of Mississippi, to secure the payment of a sum of money. The sum of two thousand dollars, named in the body of the instrument, is merely a nominal sum, as is apparent from the condition, which is in these words: “ The condition of the above bill of
Singleton died in November, 1846, within a year from the date of the instrument. This estate was administered by the Clerk on the oath of Kelly, as an estate under the value, ($500,) and as consisting entirely of movables. Kelly having bought at the probate sale of Singleton property to the amount of $187 75, presented the remaining notes which were secured by the deed of trust, and which amounted to $401, and a note of a later date of $167 89, to the administrator, and obtained from him a credit to that amount upon the purchases, by allowing the same as a credit upon the notes of Singleton. Having, therefore, instead of living content with his stipulation, that he should not be compelled to pay anything more for the negroes after the death of Singleton, undertaken to exact the notes which were secured by the instrument, a Court of Chancery, in my opinion would, notwithstanding Singleton’s death, at once hold the instrument as a mere security for the loan of a sum of money, and decree the property to the plaintiff, on paying the defendants the excess, if any, of the notes over the time of the negroes. I, therefore, think the same judgment ought to be rendered here, and that the judgment of the lower court ought to be reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.