26 Tex. 225 | Tex. | 1862
This suit was instituted by the appellees to recover from the appellant and others, a certain lot of ground, with the improvements thereon, in the town of Waco.
It appears from the transcript of the record that at the Fall term, A. D. 1856, of the District Court for McLennan county, one James H. Mullins recovered a judgment for the sum of three hundred and twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents, besides interest and costs, against John J. Blankenship, who was a defendant in this present suit, in the court below. Execution issued on this judgment on the 15th day of December, A. D. 1856 ; which execution was levied on the lot in controversy on the 13th day of January, A. D. 1857, and the lot was sold on the 3d day of March, A. D. 1857 when Mullins became the purchaser. The appellees, Douglas and Herring, purchased from Mullins in the month of September, A. D. 1857. It also appears that John J. Blankenship executed a deed for the lot in controversy to David Blankenship, the appellant, on the 7th day of November, A. D. 1856, which appears to have been previous to the rendition of the judgment in favor of Mullins against John J. Blankenship.
This deed from J. J. Blankenship to the appellant, was proven for registration by one of the subscribing witnesses-, on the 7th day of January, A. D. 1857, (which was previous to the levy of Mullins’ execution,) and was recorded on the 16th of January, A. D. 1857. It is also shown that the lot of land in question was conveyed to John J. Blankenship by one J. W. MeCown on
In this aspect of the case, the judge below instructed the jury as follows: “ If you believe from the testimony that the judgment rendered in favor of Mullins against John J. Blankenship Was rendered before the deed from John Blankenship to David Blankenship was recorded, the judgment was a lien on the land in controversy, and the sheriff’s sale under it passed the title.” The present appellant seems to have relied in the court below both upon his unregistered deed of the Tth of November, A. D» 1856, and such possession as amounted to “reasonable information” of his claim, and also upon his equity growing out of the original purchase from McCown, which he tried to show was made for him and with his property and funds. In support of this latter view, his counsel asked the court to instruct the jury in the following terms: “If the jury betieve from the testimony that David Blankenship furnished the money which was to pay for this property, the deed being taken in the name of John Blankenship, his son, raises the presumption that the father intended it as an advancement or gift to John J. Blankenship. But the jury will take into consideration all the testimony with regard to what the intention of the parties was at the time, and if they believe from this testimony that at the time of the trade, (meaning J. J. Blankenship’s trade with McCown,) and not at a
The instruction asked by the counsel for the present appellant, on the triad of the case in the court below, was not perhaps drawn with the most perfect accuracy, in view of the law; but it was sufficiently accurate to bring distinctly to the view of the court-the proposition that there was an equity in David Blankenship growing out of the circumstances of the original purchase from McOown by John J. Blankenship, which equity was entitled to protection against the lien of the judgment recovered by Mullins. And we are of opinion that the court below, by the instruction given, confined the jury to a view of the case altogether too narrow. It seems to be well settled that a judgment lien on the land of a debtor is subject to every equity which existed against the land in the hands of the judgment debtor at the time of the rendition of the judgment. And courts of equity, it is said, will protect the equitable rights of third persons against the legal lien, and will limit that lien to the actual interest which the judgment debtor has in the estate. (4th Faige’s Chancery Bep., pages 14 and 15, and cases cited.) This doctrine is qualified by .the registration laws of particular States, prescribing the effect of unrecorded conveyances and mortgages upon the rights of purchasers and creditors. And although, in the present instance, the lien of the judgment recovered by Mullins would prevail over the unregistered deed executed by J, J. Blankenship to David Blanken
These views lead us to the conclusion that the court below erred in not., causing the jury to inquire into the equity of David Blankenship growing out of the original purchase from McCown, under proper instructions.
If David Blankenship’s claim had rested solely upon Ms un
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the cause remanded for further inquiry into the facts, under instructions in conformity with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.