Eason v. Miller & Kelly
Eason v. Miller & Kelly
Concurring Opinion
I concur. Without going into the inquiry whether the mortgage itself of the foundry, “with all the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected, now on the premises,” &c., did not really mean the foundry in working condition as a whole, with all its incidents and appurtenances, including such working implements as might be pr’o-cured in place of those worn out or abandoned in running the establishment as a foundry, it seems to me that the purchaser at the sale ordered by the court has the right to stand on the very terms of the decree and advertisement under which he purchased, as constituting his contract, without going back of that to inquire whether the decree of sale was not expressed inaccurately, or at least in terms wanting in precision. The terms of the decree were, “all that lot of land and all the buildings thereon, including machine and workshops and foundry, with all the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected, now on the premises,” &c. The plaintiff was a party to the proceeding in which this decree was rendered and did not appeal. The sale was advertised accordingly, and it seems to me that it is now too late for him to claim that the Avords, “now on the premises,” inserted in the decree, really meant, by a process of reasoning, the date of the mortgage, and not that of the decree in which the expression occurs. A purchaser at a judicial sale cannot be affected by mere irregularities in the proceedings.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. As I cannot concur in the conclusion reached by a majority of the court, I will proceed to state, briefly, the reasons ivhich forbid my concurrence. While I agree with the Circuit Judge that one of the material questions in the case was, whether “patterns” Avere embraced in the terms, “all the Avorking implements and machinery and tools” used in the mortgage under Avhich defendants claim, and that this ques
Assuming, as I shall do, throughout this discussion, that patterns are embraced within the terms of the mortgage, it seems to me quite clear that only those ivhich were on the premises at the time of the execution of the mortgage were covered by it, and only those could be sold under it. Such was the conclusion of Judge Pressley at a former stage of this controversy, and such seems to have been the .opinion of this court. For in 15 S. C. Reports, at page 203, the following language is found in the opinion of the majority of the court: “The Circuit Judge decided at once the legal question, and held, no doubt correctly, that such portion of the patterns as were on the premises at the date of the execution of the mortgage belonged to the defendants, and such portion as was placed there after the execution of the mortgage belonged to the plaintiff.”
If this be so, then I think the Circuit Judge erred in refusing to charge as requested by the plaintiff: “That such patterns as were placed there since April, 1866, ivhen the mortgage was executed, remained the property of Mr. Eason, notwithstanding said sale and conveyance.” The proposition of law upon which his honor based his refusal of this part of plaintiff’s request, to wit: “That when a mortgage is taken on a railroad, machine shops, and property of that kind, having, at the time the mortgage was taken, certain chattels connected with the business, such as the cars and engines of a railroad, and such as the tools and -working implements of a foundry, that as the times change, as the necessities for other tools exist, as the exigency arises for supplying the place of worn out tools, and for bringing into the plant other tools to meet the improvements in mechanics, such additions to the original stock pass under the original mortgage, and in a sale under foreclosure such articles would go to the purchaser,” cannot be maintained as a general proposition. It only
The rule, as I understand it, established by the authorities cited by appellant’s counsel is, that where an indivisible, entire thing, as a railway locomotive for example, is mortgaged, and subsequent to the execution of the mortgage new parts are added to it or substituted for others for the purpose of improvement or repairs, such additions constituting, as they do, essential parts of the thing mortgaged, will pass under the mortgage. So, too, where real estate is mortgaged, anything subsequently attached to it so as to acquire the character of a fixture, and becoming thus a part of the thing mortgaged, will be covered by the mortgage But where, as in this case, the mortgage is on “all that lot of land, with all the buildings thereon, including machine and workshops and foundry, with all the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected, now on the said premises, situate,” &c., I do not see how it can be so construed as to cover any such articles as were not on the premises at the date of the mortgage. For it will be observed that in designating the implements and tools which it was intended to morrgage they are described not only as those connected with the foundry, but also as those noiu on the premises. So that unless they fulfilled both of these conditions, viz., that they were not only connected with the foundry, but also that they were on the premises at the time the mortgage was given, they could not be regarded as part of the property intended to be mortgaged.
It is contended, however, by the counsel for respondents that the mortgage is not before us, first, because it was not introduced in evidence, and, second, because it has been merged in the judgment of foreclosure, and therefore the court is not at liberty to inquire into the proper construction of the mortgage. As to the first objection, I do not see where there was any necessity for offering the mortgage in evidence, in view of the fact that it is distinctly alleged in the second paragraph of the complaint that the property mortgaged was the foundry, “with all the working
This brings us to the inquiry as to the proper construction of the judgment of foreclosure. Inasmuch as it is quite clear that property not embraced in a mortgage cannot properly be ordered to be sold under a proceeding to foreclose such mortgage, it seems to me that nothing but the clearest and most explicit language could justify the conclusion that the judgment in this case required or authorized the sale of any property not embraced in the mortgage. Instead of finding any such language either in the judgment or the pleadings upon which it was based, it appears to me that the language as used clearly evinces an intention to order the sale of nothing more than what could be properly sold, to wit: the property on the premises at the time of the execution of the mortgage. In the complaint for foreclosure the allegation is that, on the day named, the mortgagors “executed to plaintiff their deed and thereby conveyed to plaintiff, by way of mortgage, the following described real estate and other property, situate in the city of Charleston, County and State aforesaid, to wit:” and then follows the description of the property, placed within quotation marks, in which the tools and implements intended to be mortgaged are designated as those now on the premises.” The manifest meaning of this is that the description of the property is copied from the mortgage, and hence that the word “now” in the phrase “now on the premises,” must be read as referring to the date of the mortgage, and not to the date of the complaint.
Coming then to the judgment of foreclosure, we find that the following language is used: “That the mortgaged property described in the pleadings as hereinafter set forth be sold,” &c., and when we come to that part of the judgment setting forth the description of the property, the following language is employed : “The following is the description of the property to be sold as hereinbefore directed,” and then follows the description as copied from the complaint and placed ivithin quotation marks. It seems to me, therefore, that the judgment cannot be construed as requiring or authorizing the sale of any property except. that described in the mortgage, and that as it is clear that the description therein contained did not embrace any tools or implements except those on the premises at the time of the execution of the mortgage, there was no authority whatever for the sale of any such articles as were placed on 'the premises after the date of the mortgage. Under this view it is unimportant to inquire into the construction of the advertisement of the sale and the deed from the master, for unless there was authority for the sale of such patterns as were placed upon the premises after the execution of the mortgage, they could not pass under such deed, no matter -what might be the terms used. It would not, however, be difficult to show, if it was necessary, that the advertisement and deed from the master, properly construed, cannot be regarded as embracing any property except such as is described in the mortgage.
It seems to me, therefore, that the judgment of the Circuit Court should be reversed and the case be remanded to that court for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
James M. Eason, appellant, and his brother, Thomas D. Eason (since dead), doing business as copartners, on April 2, 1866, executed a mortgage to one Hannah Enston of certain property known as “Eason’s Foundry,” situate in Charleston, including the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected. The language used in the mortgage with reference to the implements, &c., being: “All that lot * * with all the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected, now on said premises.” This mortgage was foreclosed by regular proceedings in .1879. The decree of foreclosure, which was made March 4, 1879, ordered the mortgaged property described in the pleadings as thereinafter set forth to be sold upon certain terms. In this decree the property ordered to be sold was described in the following terms, to
In accordance with this decree the property, after due advertisement, was sold by the master on April 24, 1879, defendants, respondents, being the purchasers, to whom a deed was executed on April 24, 1879, by which the property was conveyed to said defendants in the following language: “All that lot, * * workshops and foundry, with all the working implements, machinery, and tools therewith connected, now on said premises,” &c. Shortly after this sale the respondents took possession of the lot and machinery, including certain patterns, the subject of this controversy, whereupon the action below was instituted to recover the value of said “patterns,” the plaintiff alleging that the patterns in question having been constructed and placed on the premises after the execution of the mortgage in 1866, were not embraced in the mortgage and constituted no part of the mortgaged property, and therefore could not have been the subject of the decree of sale in the foreclosure proceedings.
On the part of the defendants it was urged that the terms, “implements, machinery, and tools” embraced “patterns,” and the order of sale having directed that all implements, &c., 11 now on the premises,” be sold, and the deed of the master following the order, having conveyed all implements, &c., now on the -premises, and these patterns being on the premises at the time of the order and of the sale and at the time of the execution of said deed, said patterns passed to the defendants as part of the implements, and especially so because of the fact that the defendants in that action were parties to the foreclosure proceedings, and were also present at the sale and bidders for the property, having at no time interposed objection to any of said proceedings.
The jury rendered a verdict for the defendants. The appeal assigns error to the refusal of the Circuit Judge to charge certain requests of the plaintiff, and to his charge on certain requests of the defendants.
It will be seen from an examination of the replies made by his
The leading legal principles by which the Circuit Judge intended the jury to be governed were: that all tools and implements connected with the foundry, on the premises at the decree of foreclosure and sale, should be regarded as embraced in the mortgage, and consequently as having passed to the purchaser; and whether the patterns in question thus passed, depended upon the further question whether these patterns were tools and implements, which he ruled was a question of fact for the jury; and after defining what was meant by the terms “tools and implements,” he submitted this question, as a question of fact, to the jul7-
The main questions raised in the numerous exceptions are, first, that his honor erred in holding that all the tools and implements on the premises at the decree of foreclosure and sale passed under said sale; and, secondly, that even if this was true, yet that in no event could patterns be regarded as tools and implements, and that his honor erred in not so instructing the jury as matter of law, instead of submitting that question to the jury as a question of fact.
We think the ruling below was correct on both of these questions. Passing by the question, whether the Circuit Judge was entirely correct in ruling that, under all circumstances, such additions as may be made to the original stock of property embraced in a mortgage of the kind before the court, would become embraced in the mortgage and pass at its foreclosure, we think that his honor was fully warranted in the general charge which
The appellant complains that the Circuit Judge failed to construe the decree of foreclosure. We think he did construe it, and that his construction was in accordance with its terms, and that the conduct of the plaintiff estops him from denying that construction. He held that this decree ordered all the tools and implements on the premises at its date to be sold, and, as we have already said, this seems to us to have been the proper interpretation of the decree. He then left it to the jury to determine as matter of fact whether the patterns in contest, admitted to have been on che premises at the date of the decree, were tools and implements, &c. The jury found that they were, and consequently rendered a verdict for the defendants. Certainly, this last question which his honor submitted to the jury ivas a question of fact, pure and simple, one which his honor had no right to decide, and one which he could not have decided upon any principle of law. He defined the meaning of the term tools and implements, but whether patterns fell under this meaning depended upon evidence as to their character, nature, and use, the force and effect of which the jury alone had the right to determine.
It is the judgment of this court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- EASON v. MILLER & KELLY
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- Published