Sharpley v. Plant
Sharpley v. Plant
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
In sales made by executors, administrators and all other trustees, uberrima fides is the inflexible rule of law. In making the sale the trustee ‘£ cannot bring others into his confidence, by reason whereof a private sale is made to them on the secret understanding that he is to take an interest or benefit. ’ ’ McGowan v. McGowan, 48 Miss., 553. This doctrine is apparently universal, and it is essential, in order to preserve integrity and good faith in the immense mass of business dealings among men, where confidence is reposed. In this view, there can be and is no difference or distinction drawn by the law between actual and constructive fraud. The law condemns the thing regardless of the motive. There can be, in the nature of things, no condonation of it,' no plausible explana
The purchaser in this case cannot, nor can the appellee, his devisee, who was his agent at the purchase,- and familiar with the agreement and private understanding, avail of the two year’s statute of limitations, applicable where “the sale is made in good faith and the purchase money paid, ’ ’ as provided by code 1892, §2760, because here there was not “good faith ’ ’ in the purview of the law, and the purchase money was not paid in the same purview. ■ If $925 of the individual debt of the executor may be deducted from $3,468, cash bid, why may not $3,000 be so deducted? In matters of such general importance the statute cannot be evaded. There must be first good faith, and then the purchase money must be paid — every dollar of it, unless, perhaps, some trivial sum omitted by mistake or miscalculation.
The executor’s sale of the 578 acres was also void because there was no bond for the faithful application of the proceeds of the sale of the land. Code 1880, § 2045; code 1892, § 1905, and authorities cited in the foot notes of both. The omission
We proceed now to inquire into the validity of the sale of the remainder of the 1,174J acres of land made by Mr. Paine,
The substitutionary appointment here was not under seal. Strictissimi is the rule in the execution of powers by a trustee under conveyance to him in trust. A grantor in such an instrument may clog its execution with any and all difficulties and prerequisites to sale which his imagination may conjure up, and they all become vitally essential to a valid sale. ‘ ‘ There must be a strict adherence, not only to the substance of the power, but also to all the formalities required in its execution by the instrument. . . . If it is to be by deed, nothing but a deed will execute the power. . . . So, if the deed is to be sealed. . . . The general rule is strictly adhered to, that powers can be executed only in the mode and at the time and upon the conditions prescribed in the instrument creating the power or trust.” Perry on Trusts, sec. 511 (b). In reference to the appointment of substituted trustees, Mr. Perry says:
The sale was clearly void for want of a seal to the appointment of a substituted trustee. The case of Mo McCarley v. Braid, 58 Miss., 483, has no adverse relevancy to this. Here the complaint is that the parties did not comply with the solemn contract in making the appointment in the execution of the power. There cannot be, in the nature of things, any equitable estoppel of complainants in the case at bar. Sharpley, the grantor in the trust instrument, would not himself have been estopped. McPherson v. Reese, 58 Miss., 750. Mr. Sharp-ley’s answer to the suggestion of estoppel would be that: “The instrument between us was a contract. We contracted at arm’s length, and I stipulated expressly for seal to any appointment, as I had a perfect right to do, and you accepted the security with that condition, and you now claim under the contract, with a violation of that condition.” Suppose the contract had stipulated that the appointment should be made with the picture or drawing of a horse opposite the name, would any court hold that this might be dispensed with in a sale in pais ? There is no restriction on the power to contract, where no public policy is violated. A grantor in a trus.t deed may hamper sales by any conditions he chooses, however tech
The sale being void, for the reasons given, Mr. Plant has no title, and the title is in complainants. We are strongly inclined to think that, by the proper application of payments, the mortgage debt was fully paid before the sale, and so it was void for this. This should be ascertained exactly, by a commissioner appointed for that express purpose. The lands are not chargeable for debts contracted after Mr. Sharpley’s death. The proceeds of the sale of the 578 acres released from the trust by Scruggs must be held to have been appropriated, as the decree of sale required, to the mortgage debt. Mr. Scruggs’ dealings with the executor and the estate are such as to make it certain that he is entitled to no consideration on the score of ignorance or the illegal character of the business transactions of the \executor with him. On the coming in of the itemized report, if there be anything due on the mortgage, it shall be, with ten per centum interest, a lien in favor of Plant on this 596£ acres, and the same proceedings had as in the case of the 578 acres. Whether or not any sum be due on the mortgage, Plant shall have a-lien for taxes paid by him, with six per centum interest per annum; and he shall be required to account for reasonable rents, as in the other case, against which he may offset improvements, but be allowed nothing for them in excess of rents.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Margaret Sharpley v. John F. Plant
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Executobs. Sale of realty. Fraud. A sale of lands by an executor, under a decree of the chancery court directing it to be sold for cash, is void if by agreement between the executor and the purchaser a part of the purchase money be not paid but credited on a debt due from the purchaser to the executor as an individual; and a confirmation of a sale so made, upon a report concealing the facts, is fraudulent and does not validate the sale. 3. Same. Wills. Bond. Code 1893, $1905. The provision of a will authorizing the executor to administer the estate without bond does not dispense with the necessity of the bond required by code 1893, $ 1905, directing executors selling the lands of their testators, under a decree of the chancery court, to execute bond for the faithful application of the proceeds; and a sale so made without bond is void. 3. Same. Good faMh. Statute of limitation. Code 1893, $ 3760. A purchaser at an executor’s sale of lands who has not paid the entire purchase money, but who has been, by agreement, credited with a part of it on a debt due him from the executor individually, cannnot defend a suit for the land, after two years’ possession following the sale, on the ground that it is barred by code 1893, $ 3760, providing that actions shall not be brought to recover property sold by order of a chancery court, where the sale was in good faith and the purchase money paid, unless brought within two years after possession taken by the purchaser under such sale. 4. Same. Setting aside sale. Decree. Improvements. Where an executor’s sale of lands is sought to be vacated because the purchaser did not pay the purchase money as required by the decree under which the sale was made, and the court found that he did not so pay all of it, but, by agreement, credited a part on a debt due him by the executor individually, it is error to order title to vest in the purchaser upon his paying complainants (the heirs of the testator) the unpaid part of the purchase money and con-clenming the lands to secure such payment. The decree should have vacated the sale, declared the title in complainants, subject to a lien in the purchaser’s favor for the part of the purchase money actually paid by him, allowing nothing for improvements put upon the land. 5. Deed op Trust. Trustees. Substitution. Seal. Code 1892, H 4079, 4080, 4081, 4082. Where a deed of trust provides for the appointment of a substituted trustee ‘ ‘ under the hand and seal ” of the beneficiary, an appointment in writing, signed by the beneficiary, not under seal, is invalid, notwithstanding the abolition of seals by code 1892, 4079, 4080, 4081, 4082. 6. Same. Void sale. Purchaser. Bents. Improvements. Where a sale of lands under a valid deed of trust is adjudged void, the purchaser who has been in possession thereunder is entitled to have the land charged with so much of the purchase money paid by him, as went to satisfy the deed, with interest, and all taxes paid by him, diminished by a reasonable rent of the premises, less improvements, but the allowance for improvements should not exceed the rents.