Herron v. Herron
Herron v. Herron
Opinion of the Court
The question in this case is, whether a crop of wheat, sown on land by a husband after the commencement by his wife of a suit for divorce and alimony, passes to the wife by a decree which gives her the land as alimony, but which does not, in terms, describe or refer to the wheat?
Our statute relating to alimony, provides that where divorce is granted for the aggressions of the husband, the wife •shall be allowed such alimony out of her husband’s real and personal property, as the court shall deem reasonable, having •due regard to the property which came to him by the marriage, and the value of his personal estate at the time of the •divorce. -It was, therefore, competent for the court to ad
Growing crops, the annual result of agricultural labor, are part of the land in some eases, and in some not. Some text writers say that they are in most cases part of the land. They appear to partake of the nature of realty, inasmuch as they have root in the soil itself, and take up and absorb the substance and strength of the land while growing. And, at the same time, of personalty, as the land must be prepared and the seed sown by the husbandman, and the seed is personalty.This' court has said (Baker v. Jordan, 3 Ohio St. 438,) that they are generally to be considered as personalty. And yet, in a later case, Youmans v. Caldwell, 4 Ohio St. 72, Ken-non, J., says “they are generally to be considered as part of the realty.” Such crops are subject to levy and sale on execution. They may be sold without writing, and the title will pass. On the death of the ancestor they go to the personal representative, and not to the heir; this because they are treated as the result of labor and outlay incurred at the expense of the ancestor’s personal estate. They will not, in this state, pass with the land at judicial sale, nor at partition sale. So, too, such crops may be reserved by parol by the grantee who conveys the land, and if the parties to the deed signify their understanding that, as between them, the crop is personalty, the law will so regard it. Baker v. Jordan, supra. But, in case of sale and conveyance by the owner of the land, such crops, where sown by him, as between vendor and vendee, pass with the land unless reserved. A reason given for this rule is that the deed is to be construed most strongly against the grantor, and if the crop be not reserved the grantor is presumed to have intended it to pass with the possession. A further reason is found in the fact that, if it were otherwise, the purchaser of land would be subject to the intrusion of the vendor to gather the crop. In the absence of a reservation of the right to do this, such intrusion would be a trespass, and the anomalous situation would be presented of the ownership by one of personal property upon the land of another without right in the owner to enter and take it.
From the foregoing it may be concluded that, as a general proposition, where the title and possession of land is transferred from one to another in such way as to clothe that other with a full title, the annual growing crops will pass unless the circumstances indicate a purpose to reserve them.
In the light of this principle let us examine the case before us. The decree of the court granting the wife a divorce was absolute. Henceforth their ways parted, and, in law, they
The iegal effect upon the allowance was to grant to the wife the entire interest of the husband in the land. It was not necessary that a conveyance should be made, because the decree itself operated as a conveyance, and the title passed to the wife eo instanti. This transfer of title was not by any act of the husband, but by the fiat of the court. Hence it is to the purpose of the court we must look, and not to the purpose of the husband. The decree is not difficult of construction. It explains itself. The title received by the wife was as full and ample as though a conveyance from the husband had been made, and she took a title in fee simple. Grallagher v. Fleury, 36 Ohio St. 590. She took as a purchaser. “ There are two modes only, regarded as classes, of acquiring a title to land: namely, descent and purchase; purchase including every mode of acquisition known to the law except that by which an heir, on the death of an ancestor, becomes substituted in his place as owner by the act of the law.” Washburn on Real Property, vol. 3, p. 4. Being thus clothed with the full title to the land, and being by the decree, put
Nor is this view, as we think, open to the. objection that it discourages agriculture. The crop on the land enhances the value of it, and the greater the value of each acre the fewer in number of acres will the court, having due regard, among other things, to the value of the husband’s real and personal estate at the time of the divorce, deem reasonable to be allowed to the wife. At all events, in such case, the husband sows with full knowledge that the land is liable to be adjudged to the wife, and that, when the crop ripens, he may have no right of entry to gather it. He is in the situation of a tenant who has by his own act brought his right of occupancy to a termination. He cannot claim profits, for it is by his own folly that he has sowed that which he could not reap.
We are of opinion that the decree gives the wife title to the land as a purchaser, and that she stands in regard to the crop of wheat in the attitude of a vendee receiving title and possession from a vendor without reservation as to the growing crop, and hence the husband had no interest in the crop after the decree, and no right to. enter upon the land to gather it.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.