Barlow v. Brittain
Barlow v. Brittain
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The first instruction for the defendant should not have been given. It is said by counsel that it was asked and granted upon the authority of Black v. Robinson, 61 Miss., 54. The learned judge must have considered that decision as authority for the rule that a court of law will marshal securities wherever, under the facts proved, such coui’se would be pursued in equity. This is a misconception of the principle of that case. In Hunt v. Shackleford, 55 Miss., 94, it had been held that the beneficiary in a deed of trust for the payment of debts, who was entitled to the proceeds of the property, could interpose his claim for the money as a set-off, when sued upoil an independent cause of action by a person who had converted the property to his use. In Black v. Robinson, supra, we recognized the rule announced in Hunt v. Shackleford, but held that .the equity of the defendant might
The judgment is reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. S. Barlow v. L. L. Brittain
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Equitable Defense. Action at law. Marshaling. Ordinarily, a court of law, trying' legal titles, cannot marshal securities. The right can be availed of only in those exceptional oases where an equitable defense is permitted to which the right of marshaling is a reply. Black v. Robinson, 61 Miss., 54, distinguished. 2. Trust-deed. Action for property converted. Defense. An action at law by the trustee in a deed of trust to recover the value of incumbered personal property, which has been purchased and converted, cannot be defended by showing that the debtor has other accessible property, subject to the deed, and sufficient to satisfy the debt secured thereby.