Willis Hardware Co. v. CLARK
Willis Hardware Co. v. CLARK
Opinion of the Court
Appellant obtained a judgment for $2,227.01 in the circuit court against Johnnie Bracey on August 9, 1949, which was duly enrolled and entered upon the judgment roll of Walthall County on August 18, 1949. On January 2,1950, it filed suit in the circuit court of said county against Johnnie Bracey and C. C. Clark and alleged in
The sole question presented is whether appellant had such a lien on the cotton as to entitle it to recover the value thereof from Clark.
Section 1554, Code of 1942, provides that the circuit clerk of each county shall procure and keep iinhis office a book to be styled “The Judgment Boll” and further provides that all judgments shall be enrolled therein .within twenty days after the adjournment of each term of the court. Section 1555, Code of 1942, provides: “A judgment so enrolled shall be a lien upon and bind all the property of the defendant within the county where so enrolled, from the rendition thereof * * * .”
In the early case of Dozier v. Lewis, 27 Miss. 679, this Court said: “Conceding the lien of the judgment, as it originally stood, to be in full force when this bill was filed, and to have had precedence over the purchase of the slaves by Lane, what was the nature and extent of that lien? It was a general, not a specific lien. ‘It is
“There is no soundness in the position, that such a purchaser is to be held as a trustee, and accountable for the value of the property. The property is not bound as trust property, n.or has the judgment creditor any claim whatever upon it in that point of view; nor is it even subject absolutely to the judgment, but only on condition that it is seized in execution, for the judgment may be otherwise discharged. It is no more subject as a trust fund to the payment of the judgment, than it is to the payment of any other just debt of the defendant not in the form of a judgment; and in a certain sense, all the property of a debtor is regarded as subject, as a trust fund, to the payment of his debts. But this has reference to the obligation and duty of the debtor in good conscience, and not to the power of the creditor to set up a trust upon it, and thereby prevent its alienation. Until it becomes bound by legal process or conveyance, it is not subject to the trust so as to prevent the right of disposition. The rule insisted upon in behalf of the appellant has no application to a case of
That case was decided on a situation which arose in 1839. The statute above quoted, so far as we can find, was first enacted in similar terms on February 16, 1841, and appears in Hutchinson’s Code of 1848, Ch. 61,- Art. 14 (1). It has been repeatedly re-enacted down to the present date with some changes not material to here note. The decision in Dozier v. Lewis was therefore under the general law as to judgment liens and not under a statute.
In the case of Simpson v. Smith Sons ’ Gin & Machine Co., 75 Miss. 505, 22 So. 805, at a time when the statute was in full force, this Court said: “Appellees had obtained judgment against Dewberry, which had been duly enrolled, and thereby acquired a general judgment lien upon certain personal property, and appellant had acquired this property and disposed of the same subsequently to the rendition and enrollment of said judgment. But the property was never taken in execution, and thereby subjected to the judgment lien, and the appellees have only a record debt against Dewberry. The lien is not a specific lien on certain property, but only a general lien on all property subject to levy and sale, and does not attach until the judgment creditor takes the property in execution.”
In First National Bank of Commerce v. Donald, 112 Miss. 681, 73 So. 723, this court quoted with approval from Dozier v. .Lewis, supra, and said: “The force of
. Affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The controlling opinion largely nullifies the effect of the judgment enrollment statute upon the property of the judgment-debtor. It holds that one coming into possession of such property takes it free of such enrolled judgment unless the property has been seized under execution. If a transferee, or tranferees, regardless of number, of such property from the original owner, can maneuver to dispose of the property, or hide it out, so that levy thereon cannot be made under execution, then there is no liability whatever on such transferees. The entire right of the judgment creditor being dependent alone upon seizure under execution, enrollment of the judgment is useless, for execution can issue on an unenrolled judgment as effectually as upon one enrolled. As stated in the majority opinion, the Dozier case was decided before adoption of the statute, and, therefore, has no application thereto. The Simpson case is authority for the majority holding’. However, in my view, that case is wrong. It makes the right of the creditor dependent upon a special lien. There is, as to effect, no difference between the two. Both simply entitle the creditor to proceed against the property to enforce his lien and subject the property to payment of the debt. A general judgment creditor can resort to execution or, ip proper case, to chancery. A vendor, having a special -lien for the purchase price, can resort to equity. A landlord, having a special lien, enforces it by the method set out in the statutes. In all cases of liens, whether general or special, the lienor can simply proceed to en
In my opinion this case is controlled by Gerlach-Barklow Co. v. Ellett, 145 Miss. 60, 111 So. 92. In that case Gerlach had an enrolled judgment against Ellett. Execution issued on that judgment and an automobile in the possession of Ellett was seized. However, the execution was released and withdrawn by written authority of the judgment-creditor. That left nothing against the automobile except the lien under the enrolled judgment. In that situation Ellett sold the automobile to Standard Automobile Company. Gerlach then had another execution issued and the car was seized in the possession of the Standard Automobile Company. The court held that the claim of Gerlach was superior to that of Standard. Of course, the rights of the parties were determined by the conditions existing at the time Standard got the car. At that time Gerlach had nothing whatever except its lien under the enrolled judgment. The first execution had been effectually withdrawn and the second had not been issued. The court stated the contention of Standard to be that Gerlach “waived and surrendered its judgment lien against the car when it authorized the sheriff to release the car from the first execution issued by the judgment creditor and the lower court so held, seemingly upon the idea that no lien attached against personal property under an enrolled judgment, unless and until the property was seized under the writ of execution”. This Court then said “This act of releasing the levy of the judgment creditor could in no way impair or defeat the judgment lien on the car
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