236 Pa. 386 | Pa. | 1912
Opinion by
The plaintiffs are the heirs-at-law of Robert Henderson, who at the time of his death in 1878, was a resident of the county of Allegheny. He died intestate, seised of the tract of land in controversy here. One year prior
Then, again, in passing upon tbe merits of tbe present controversy, tbe Act of 1705,1 Sm. Laws 57, must not be overlooked. This act provides, in substance, that if tbe sheriff sell lands under an execution upon a judgment irregularly obtained, and which may be subsequently reversed for errors, sucb lands shall not be restored to tbe person against whom tbe judgment may have been wrongfully entered, but restitution only shall be made of tbe price for which sucb lands were sold. This is a wholesome statute, intended to quiet titles, and bas always been favored by our courts, both before and after tbe passage of tbe Act of 1834: Warder v. Tainter, 4 Watts 270; Feger v. Kroh, 6 Watts 294; Mellon v. Guthrie, 51 Pa. 116; Duff v. Wynkoop, supra; Shannon v.
It is also objected that the land was improperly sold on a writ of fieri facias because there was no waiver of inquisition. This objection ignores the facts which appear of record. The execution docket of Greene county shows that inquisition was waived. The warrant of attorney upon which the original judgment was entered in Allegheny county contains an express waiver of inquisition, and the exemplification transmitted to Greene county also contains a similar waiver. The sheriff’s deed contains a recital that the land was seized and sold by virtue of a writ of fieri facias upon which inquisition was waived. In view of these facts it cannot be said that the land was sold upon a process in which inquisition was not waived. But at most this is only an irregularity which under the authority of our cases must be objected to within a reasonable time, and it has been frequently held that such reasonable time is before the confirmation of the sale and the acknowledgment of the deed: Spragg v. Shriver, 25 Pa. 282; McLaughlin v. McLaughlin, 85 Pa. 317; Clough v. Welsh, 229 Pa. 386.
All of the other matters complained of on this appeal are irregularities, or errors, not subject to collateral attack in an action of ejectment.
Assignments of error overruled and -judgment affirmed.