Earle v. Middleton
Earle v. Middleton
Opinion of the Court
Curia, per
In the case of Bond vs. Quattlebaum, (1 M’C. R. 584,) decided in 1822, Judge Nott said,
The case of the vendee’s title defeated by a mortgage, does not conflict with the principles I have stated. The mortgage is a mere incumbrance; it is by the foreclosure only, that the right of the mortgagor or his alienee is defeated, and it is, therefore, only an actual eviction under the decree of foreclosure that will entitle the vendee- to. damages on the covenant of warranty. It is then, that, through the defect in his title, his possession is defeated by actual eviction, and he can only have interest from that time. Such seems to be the purport of the decision in Executors of Withers vs. Johnson, April, 1830,
The A. A. 1824, sec. 4, (p. 24,) enacts, in affirmance of the rule, as laid down in Furman vs. Elmore, (2 N. & M’C. R. 189,) Bond vs. Quattlebaum, and the other cases decided at law, “ that, in any action or suit at law, or in equity, for reimbursement or damages, upon covenant or otherwise, the true measure of damages shall be the amount of the purchase money at the timeof the alienation, with legal interest.” Testing the case before us by this Act, or by the rule of law
Motion dismissed;
That case is introduced here, as well for the better understanding of the present one, as on account of the citation of it in 2 Rice’s Dig. 192, viz:
“Action of debt on bond for the purchase money of negroes — plea, non, esl factum; on the trial the defendant proved that the negroes purchased were taken away from him by virtue of a mortgage given by Withers, before his sale to defendant. The jury found for defendant, and the Court refused a new trial.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.