King v. Kerr's Administrators
King v. Kerr's Administrators
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the court, by
The covenant of warranty in a deed conveying land, or any interest in laud, is an undertaking by the warrantor, that on the failure of the title which the deed purports to convey, either for the whole estate or for a part only, by the setting up a superior •title, that he will make compensation in money,'for the loss sustained by such failure of title. It is commonly, in express terms, • extended, to the heir and assignee of the grantee, but this is immaterial. This covenant is not broken until the grantee, his heir ■ or assignee, is evicted from or disturbed in the enjoyment of the premises, or a part of them, by the setting up of a superior, or paramount *title. It is like the covenant of quiet enjoyment in a lease. The covenant of warranty, as respects the grantee, is not merely a personal covenant, for the breach of which he, or his executors or administrators, only could sue; but it has respect to the land, is a real covenant, and until broken, passes with the land, to the heirs of the grantee ; or if the land is conveyed or assigned ■ to the assignee, and when broken, the heir or,assignee injured by vthe breach can, in his own name, sustain an action against the
It is objected to his recovery, that he has a judgment against the-representatives of Heylen, o-n the covenant of warranty in Heylen’s deed to him for these premises, for the damages he claims of Kerr’s representatives in this action. Kerr, for the consideration as stated in his deed, of two thousand dollars, conveyed the premises, with a covenant of warranty, in fee simple, to Baldwin. The-title conveyed by Kerr to Baldwin was passed by several intermediate conveyances, each with general warranty to Heylen, and by *Heylen to King, whereby King became the assignee of Heylen and of Baldwin, and of each grantor through whom the premises passed from Baldwin to Helyen. With the premises, the covenant of warranty of Kerr, and of each of the others, passed, to and centered in King, as though they had each been made with-him personally. That eviction or disturbance of King in the enjoyment of the premises, which was a breach of the covenant of warranty of Heylen, was a breach of the warranty of Kerr, and of each of the others, whereby each became liable to be separately-sued on his several covenant, for the same damages which each-for himself had undertaken to pay.
As in a joint and several note to pay a sum of money on a cer
It is not necessary to sustain this action, that notice should have been given by King to the defendants of the commencment of the action of ejectment against him by Miller. No such averment is found in the precedents of the declarations in this action, as there would have been if notice was necessary. It is prudent to give the notice; it in some cases enables a plaintiff to recover on less testimony. 2 Saund. on Plead, and Ev. 631. This objection of the defendant can not bo sustained.
It is objected to King’s recovery that he has not been evicted;
The occupying claimant laws were enacted to promote the settlement and advance the improvement of the country, by giving assurance to the settler in the woods, who had reasonable grounds to believe- that he had a good title to the land on which he settled, that if that title should fail, the person who by his superior title entered into the enjoyment of the-fields which the settler had cleared, the orchard he had planted, and the houses which he had erected, should do him justice, by paying him for that labor and ■expense of which the successful claimant reaped the benefit. These laws provide, that on the recovery of a plaintiff in ejectment against a defendant who has such evidence of title as is required by the statute, either party may, by motion to the court, have commissioners appointed, to value all improvements on the land, made by the defendant, or by any person through whom he
The rule by which damages are ascertained in this action,, whore the whole of the premises are lost by the failure of the title, is the same as in an action on the covenant of seizin, the consideration received by the warrantor for the premises, and interest. 3 Ohio, 221; 4 Kent, 462-465.
This rule is adopted as the one most likely to do justice between the parties. It is the rule in most of the United States. In a-country long settled, where the value of real property varies but little in twenty or forty years, whether this, or the value of the-premises on eviction, is the rule, this, in general, is ascertained without cost or dispute. In this state, where real property is rising fast in value, the *value on eviction would be ruinous-to the warrantor, and, in cases to which the occupying claimant law applies, would be unjust..
The warrantor covenants or agrees, that on failure of the title, he will pay the loss sustained; hence, to assess the damages at more is unjust; he covenanted to pay no more; to-assess them at. less, would be unjust and injurious to the warrantee.
When the title fails for a part only of the premises, as for one-tenth in value, the party recovers but one-tenth of the consideration and interest. 3 Ohio, 221, 222; 4 Hals. 143-148; 8 Pick. 455.
Interest is not recovered when the premises have been occupied by the warrantee, and he has not accounted, nor is accountable, for1 the rents and profits. It would be unjust. He who buys a farm, or house and lot, agrees to part with the use of the consideration forever, for the use of the farm or house and lot forever. As long as he has the use of the farm or house and lot, so long should the seller have the interest of the consideration.
A. sells to B. a farm for one thousand dollars; B. receives for it a clear rent of sixty dollars a year, for forty years, when his title fails, and he has to account to the claimant for four years’ rent. A. should refund to B. the one thousand dollars, and four years’ interest; it would be unjust to give B. forty years’ interest. -The-
A., by a claim for dower in the premises, which is paramount, has it assigned, the premises not dividing, by an annual rent of thirty dollars; at the end of the first year, the warrantee pays her the thirty dollars, when she dies; he will recover of the warrantor the thirty dollars, and costs taxed against him in the proceedings for dower. The costs were incurred in defense of the warrantor’s title. 13 Johns. 51; 4 Bibb, 220; 14 Johns. 89; 4 Kent, 442. The thirty dollars, costs and interest from the payment, is all the injury sustained.
When the commissioners, under the occupying claimant laws, value improvements, and the successful claimant pays *the defendant for them, the warrantor, when the improvements were made by him, in this action must have credit for them. The spirit and policy o'f the occupying claimant laws, and justice, require it. In this case, suppose the improvements' all made by Kerr; that, they had been valued at one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, after deducting the rents received by King; that Miller had paid King the one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, and put him out; King would recover only three hundred and fifty dollars, the balance of the consideration of two thousand dollars received by Kerr for the premises. King had received the rents; Kerr had paid for them, by having them deducted from his improvements. If the improvements had been a part made by Kerr, a part by King, in assessing damages their relative value to the whole sum recovered by King for them would have to be ascertained, and interest apportioned according to the charge on the improvements. 3 Bibb, 167.
In this case, King has not lost the whole of the estate which he derived from Kerr in the premises, by the recovery of Miller. He has, by virtue of Kerr’s title, retained the improvements, whether they were made by Kerr, or any other assignee of Kerr, before they came to King, or by King. Miller’s title, by the proceedings under the occupying claimant law, has been reduced to an incumbrance of three hundred and fifty dollars, which King has paid off, together with the costs of the ejectment and proceedings under the occupying claimant law. This three hundred and fifty dollars, and these costs, are the damages sustained by King, which, with interest.
Not to give King this, would not only be unjust, but it would in .some cases prevent the occupying claimant from purchasing in the paramount title, and subject the warrantor perhaps to the double loss of the value of the improvements made by him, and to the return of the whole consideration which he received for the premises.
It is agreed by the parties, that final judgment should be rendered at this term, without an inquiry-of damages. The three hundred and fifty dollars, and interest on it from the *time •it was paid by King to Miller, and the costs of the ejectment, and of the proceedings under the occupying claimant law, with interest on these costs from the time they were paid by King, must all be added together, and the sum thus produced the court assess as the •damages of King, for which sum, and the costs of this suit, judgment must be entered.
Reference
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- Edward King v. John Kerr's Administrators
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