Brock v. J. J. Haley & Co.
Brock v. J. J. Haley & Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This is an action for recovery of three bales of cotton and damages, and resulted in judgment in favor of plaintiff for the possession of the property and twenty-seven dollars and ninety cents damages.
James Brock was the owner of a certain tract of land in Oconee county and made with Simon Gaines the following contract, construction of which is involved in this appeal.
“State of South Carolina — Oconee County.
“An agreement made and entered into this the 3d day of January, A. D. 1907, for the year 1907, by and between B. C. Brock as agent for James Brock, witnesseth, That the said B. C. Brock, agent, agrees to rent to Simon Gaines about thirty-five to forty acres of land as has agreed upon, on the farm of James Brock near Tokeena, Oconee county, S. C., for which he, Simon Gaines, is to pay one-third of all grain crops, and one-fourth of all cotton and cottonseed, after the guano is paid for. He also agrees to rent him sixteen (16) acres to be cultivated mostly in cotton, for which each of the parties are to have one-half after the guano bill is paid. He also agrees to give him and family all the work possible for him to give to advantage and to pay them fifty cents per day for farm work and the customary prices for carpenter or mason work, to be paid as the work is done and to be paid in either supplies or cash. It is understood that the said Simon Gaines is to work himself and also to put in his sons, Love, C. B., Simon, Jr., and Lela, also his wife and *375 her sons, T. J. Harper and1 Sam Harper, also Eugenia Harper. He also agrees to enter the place and'take good care of buildings and stock entrusted to his care or use; to prepare, plant, cultivate and gather all crops in due season and in farm-like manner, as directed by the said B. C. Brock, agent, and when not engaged1 in the preparation, planting, cultivating or gathering of the crops, to work for and have the hands mentioned above to work for the said B. C. Brock, agent, at the price of 50 cents per day, or customary prices when other than farm work is done. He also agrees to make all necessary terraces and ditches and keep the same in good repair during his tenery of the lands.
“Witness our hands and1 seal this January 3d, 1907.
B. C. Brock,
Agent for James Brock, his
Simon X Gaines. mark
“Witness: J. J. Haley, and J. O. B. Haley.”
Gaines went into occupancy of the land and soon thereafter, on January 3d, 1907, executed to J. J. Haley & Co. an agricultural lien on his crops to be grown on the Brock land during the year 1907. Some preparation was made by Gaines towards making a crop, he testifying that he had prepared and planted five acres in corn, that he had broken up about fifteen acres for cotton and had put down fourteen sacks of fertilizers, and had also broken up the new ground, containing some four or five acres. There was dispute as to the extent and character of the work claimed to have been done by Gaines, but there was no evidence and it is not contended that any cotton was planted or cultivated by him, nor does it appear that he furnished the fertilizer put down by him on the cotton land. About the 1st of April, Brock indicted Gaines for violation of his contract and as a result Gaines agreed to move off the place. Defendant Haley knew of this arrangement and furnished a wagon to aid in the *376 removal to another plantation and1 entered into another contract to supply Gaines, but he testified that Brock agreed to pay the lien. Plaintiff objected1 to this last testimony of an agreement not in writing to pay the debt of another, as obnoxious to the statute of frauds.
The Court first took this view, but finally ruled the testimany irrelevant as not affecting the question of right of possession of the property and that plaintiff’s remedy was to sue upon the promise.
After Gaines left, Brock made a contract with his coplaintiff Cox, who took possession of the premises and made a crop thereon. On October 25, 1907, upon an affidavit that Gaines was disposing of the crop raised by him on said Brock land, defendant Haley & Co. procured a warrant of attachment and seized three bales of cotton grown- by Cox on the Brock land, and thereupon plaintiff brought this suit to recover the cotton and damages; and succeeded over the defense made by defendants, justifying the seizure under the warrant upon the agricultural lien given by Gaines.
The jury were, therefore, correctly instru'cted: “If Simon Gaines deserted the premises and did not plant the cotton, then those proceedings would not justify them in taking the cotton. If you find that Simon Gaines did not raise the cotton, but deserted the premises before planting the cotton, then it would be your duty to bring in a verdict for the plaintiffs, with or without damages.” As there is no possible theory of the testimony and the law applicable thereto which would justify the seizure of plaintiffs’ cotton under a warrant upon the agricultural lien against Simon Gaines, who neither planted nor cultivated the cotton and had1 abandoned all right in the land as tenant at that time, we do not deem it important or necessary to consider the exceptions in detail or at length. A number of the exceptions complain of the failure of the Court to charg-e certain propositions, but they must fail, because the law governing the case was correctly given as a whole and there were no requests to charge refused which should have been given to the jury.
The exceptions are overruled and the judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.
Reference
- Cited By
- 2 cases
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- Syllabus
- 1. Real Property — Lease—Agricultural Lien. — The contract in question construed to create the relation of landlord and tenant and under it the tenant had the right to execute an agricultural lien on crops to be raised on the leased lands, but no crops having been planted on the leased lands under this lease, the lienee has no right to seize crops raised thereon by another tenant under a lease made after the lienor had abandoned the lands. 2. Contract. — If the landlord promised to pay the lien debt as a consideration of the lienor’s quitting the premises, the remedy of lienee is on the promise of the landlord and not under the lien against the crops raised by a subsequent tenant. 3. Damages. — The charge here complained of substantially covers the doctrine that the damages for seizure of cotton is the difference between the highest price while under seizure and the price obtained after replevin. 4. Appeal. — That there is no testimony to support a verdict cannot be raised for the first time in this Court.