Brusle v. Hamilton
Brusle v. Hamilton
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs alleging they have a tacit mortgage on the lands which their natural tutrix sold to the defendant, Mrs. Downes, in 1854, and that by a clause in the sale the vendee agreed to pay each heir his virile share, on arriving at the age of majority, out of the price remaining in her hands reserved as protection against their tacit mortgage, sue her to recover the sum of $2021 04, due each of the plaintiffs, and also to enforce the tacit mortgage which they claim on said lands. They also sue to annul, for simulation, the sale of the lands from Dupuy and Greaud by their tutrix in 1858, upon which a special mortgage was given by her in lieu of their tacit mortgage, pursuant to section seven of the act approved fifteenth of March, 1855, and also to have declared null said special mortgage on account of said simulation.
O. P. Hebert, the son of the defendant, Mrs. Downes, intervened, claiming that he is the owner of the lands upon which the plaintiffs seek to enforce their alleged mortgage, having purchased the same at a judicial sale to enforce his tacit mortgage against the defendant, Mrs. Downes, his natural tutrix. He also alleges that the mortgage under which he acquired the property is superior in rank to all others bearing thereon. He also adopts the answer of the defendant, Mrs. Downes, alleging that the plaintiffs’ tacit mortgage was extinguished by the special mortgage on other lands which their natural tutrix gave in 1858, pursuant to the provisions of the act of fifteenth of March, 1855, and further alleging the slave consideration of the debt which the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce in this suit.
The court rejected the demand of the plaintiffs, decreed that the tacit mortgage of the plaintiffs, bearing on the land in question, was extinguished by the special mortgage given by their natural tutrix in 1858, and decreed that the tacit mortgage of the intervenor, O. P. Hebert, was superior in rank to the special mortgage given by Mrs. Downes to Mrs. Brusle, to secure the purchase price of said lands. From this judgment the plaintiffs appeal.
The intervenor sets up a title to the property, which was acquired under the enforcement of his tacit mortgage against the defendant, Mrs. Downes, and the restoration of the tacit mortgage set up by the plaintiffs would affect his rights to the property.
We think the court did not err in holding the superiority of the mortgage under which the intervenor acquired the property in question. But there was error in rejecting plaintiffs’ demand for a personal judgment against the defendant, Mrs. Downes; because by a clause in the act of sale from Mrs. Brusle to her, she assumed to pay each heir, on coming of age, out of the funds in her hands, his virile share of the sum due the minors by their natural tutrix. As the consideration of the debt out of which said shares were to be paid is mixed, part slaves and part lands and movables, and as we are unable from the record to fix the relative amount of each, we will remand the case in order that the court below may determine the amount of plaintiff’s claim, recoverable in a personal judgment against Mrs. Downes. 21 An. 757, Sandige v. Sanderson.
It is therefore ordered that the judgment herein be affirmed in all
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.