Lawrence v. Fletcher
Lawrence v. Fletcher
Opinion of the Court
Upon examination of the evidence, we are satisfied that possession was duly taken of the estate by the mortgagees. Whether that possession was actually given on
As to the continuance of possession by the mortgagees, during the three years required by the statute to perfect the foreclosure, we think the testimony is satisfactory to prove such continued possession, and that the mortgagor was the tenant of the mortgagees, and that the rent was to be equal to the accruing interest on the debt during the tenancy.
On the point whether the facts proved in respect to payments, after the lapse of the three years, furnish evidence of an agreement to open the mortgage, we are satisfied they do not. We cannot agree with the opinion expressed in Deming v. Comings, 11 N. Hamp. 474, that a mere receipt ol a part of the money, after the foreclosure, is evidence of a waiver of the foreclosure. It is not, in our judgment, a fact which, in itself, without other evidence, proves the intention of the parties to open the mortgage. It is in evidence that, after the mortgage was admitted by the mortgagor to be foreclosed, he requested the mortgagees to give him one month more in which to pay the amount of the note, and that they assented to it. This executory agreement was not such a proceeding as to affect the previous acts of the parties, but was a limited extension of the time within which, if the mortgagor had paid the debt, he would, by force of such agreement, have been entitled, in equity, to a reconveyance of the estate ; or, the mortgagor being in possession after such payment, the mortgagees might have been enjoined from proceeding against him at law. But on the expiration of the time, if the payment was not made, the right of the mortgagee to hold the estate in fee simple would remain unimpaired. In the present case, the money was not paid, and the mortgagees were under no obligation, legal or equitable, to'reconvey the estate.
In whatever way, then, we consider the case, we think there are no facts proved, that entitle the plaintiff to the relief sought by the bill, and that the defendant is the bond fide purchaser of the estate, for value, and is entitled to hold it free of any claim from the plaintiff.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George Lawrence v. John L. Fletcher
- Status
- Published