Cooper v. Turnage
Cooper v. Turnage
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The sole question presented is as to the precedence of lien on an. ungrown crop, as between a senior judgment and a.
In the case at bar the judgment (from a magistrate’s court) was enrolled 12th March, 1875. The trust deed was executed on the same day, but not recorded until 17th of April. The crop was not in esse at the last-mentioñed date. The question presented is important and of first impression, but not believed to be difficult.
Judgment liens take effect as to after-acquired property, not from the date of rendition or enrollment, but from the date of the acquisition by the debtor of the property. Cayce v. Stovall, 50 Miss., 402.
By the 4th section of act of April Í7, 1873 (Acts of 1873, p. 80), it is made lawful for any person to mortgage a crop to be grown within fifteen months, and the effect of such incum-brance is declared to be to bind the interest of the mortgagor “ at the time of granting the same, or such interest as he may thereafter acquire.”
This evidently means that the lien upon the non-existing crop shall by fiction of law take effect eo instcmti with the execution of the mortgage, so that when the crop, -within the fifteen months, comes into existence the lien shall relate back to the date of its creation.
The judgment lien, on the contrary., does not relate back, but takes effect only from the time when the crop has an actual existence.
The mortgage lien, therefore, is older in time and prior in right.
Let the judgment be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- T. L. Cooper v. W. B. Turnage
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 31. Judgment Lien : Mortgage lien. Priority. Act of April, 1S7S, construed. A judgment lien on after-acquired property takes effect from the date of the acquisition by the debtor, but does not relate back to the rendition or enrollment of the judgment. A judgment lien takes effect on a growing crop only from the time it has an actual existence. By the act of April, 1873, it is made lawful to mortgage a crop to- bo grown within fifteen months, and the effect of such incumbrance is declared to be to bind the interest of the mortgagor “at the time of granting the same or such interest as he may thereafter acquire.” By fiction of law the lien upon the non-existing crop takes effect, eo instanti with the execution of the mortgage, so that when the crop, within the fifteen months, comes into existence the lien relates back to the date of its creation.