Williams v. Wright
Williams v. Wright
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
It appears from the record in this case, that in January, 1844, F. L. McDaniel as principal, and the complainants, Williams and Wynne, as his sureties, made a note for two hundred and twelve dollars, payable to David Johnson,
On the 22d day of December, 1845, an alias execution was issued upon said judgment against all the original defendants, and also against Fleming Cocke as surety in the forfeited delivery bond. This execution, without being levied, was returned to the office by the sheriff, with the following endorsement thereon, made by the present defendant Wright, viz:—
“ I agree to stay the collection of the fi. fa., February 2nd, 1846. William Weight.”
After the lapse of more than two years, viz, on the 22d day of March, 1848, another execution was issued upon said judgment, against all the last mentioned parties, which was levied upon a slave, the property and family servant of the complainant Williams. And this bill is brought to enjoin the sale of said slave, and also to obtain -a perpetual injunction, restraining the defendant Wright from proceeding to enforce the collection of said judgment as against the complainants, upon the ground that they are discharged from all liability thereon.
They allege in the bill, that they did not join in the delivery bond, and had nothing to do with the execution
The defendant, in his answer, denies the agreement stated in the bill, and says, that he assented to the return of the alias execution unsatisfied, as a matter of accommodation to Johnson, one of the defendants therein : that such assent was not given upon any consideration whatever, and that there was no stipulation for any definite suspension of execution... He further states, as a reason why no other step was taken to enforce collection of said judgment before the early part of 1848, his absence in Mexico, during a great part of the time, and the refusal of the sheriff to discharge his duty.
We think it very clear that upon the ground of delay, were the facts charged in the bill admitted to be true, the complainants are entitled to no r'elief. There was no valid agreement for any definite delay; no consideration ; nothing to have precluded the defendant, Wright, from taking out another execution at pleasure, at any subsequent time, and much less to have, in the slightest degree, interfered with the complainants, as sureties, to have availed themselves of the ample and summary remedies
The remaining ground of relief is, that the levy upon the slave of McDaniel and the execution and forfeiture of the delivery bond given by him to the sheriff, operated in law as a satisfaction of the original judgment, and consequently as a discharge of the liability of the complainants thereon, and in support of this proposition, we are refered to previous adjudications of this court.
Upon a careful examination of the act of 1831, chap. 25, we are not prepared to hold, that the levy of an execution upon personal property of one of several joint defendants in a judgment, and the taking a delivery bond with security from such defendant, by the sheriff, which is forfeited, will operate as a satisfaction of the judgment, or discharge the liability of such of the defendants as may not have joined in the delivery bond. We incline to the opinion, that by the proper construction of the act of 1831, such -will not be the legal effect.
But were the law admitted to be otherwise, as insisted upon by the complainants’ counsel, it is very clear that such discharge would constitute matter of pure legal defence, of which a court of equity would not entertain jurisdiction, unless there existed in the case some other independent ground of equitable relief. Such is not the case under consideration. The complainants, from the face of the bill, had an ample and unembarrassed remedy
This jurisdiction is exercised, upon the principle, that owing to the nature of the property, a recovery in damages in an action at law, would, in many cases, be no adequate remedy.
But the levy, in this case, upon the slave of the complainant Williams was no trespass. He was a party to the judgment, and his property of every description, subject to execution, was liable to be seized for its satisfaction. If, for any valid reason, the execution itself was either void or voidable, the appropriate remedy was in the court whence it issued, in the mode before indicated. And upon this ground we affirm the decree of the Chancellor, dismissing the bill.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Williams and Wynne v. Wright
- Status
- Published