94 So. 580 | Ala. | 1922
Lead Opinion
This is the second appeal in this case. Beck v. Crow,
A question in the case is whether there was a sufficient valuation assessed by the jury on the property made the subject of suit in detinue. The evidence showed that the cotton had been ginned and baled, which testimony came from the appellee, who had possession and control of the cotton, and whose duty it was to gather and prepare it for market.
In Gwin v. Emerald Co.,
The court in the general charge to the jury said that:
"While the laborer, the man who makes the crop, who does the work, has the right to the possession of the crop, the immediate possession of it, and to hold it until his lien is paid, yet, gentlemen of the jury, if, before a division of the crop, if the laborer assume control over it against the right of the man who owns the land and puts himself in the wrong by refusing to divide it and refusing to recognize the right of the plaintiff, the landowner, to have his part, if then he wrongfully and without legal excuse therefore attempts to confiscate the crop to his own use, then if he does that he puts himself in the wrong, and when he is in the wrong, the plaintiff may bring suit for his stuff and recover in a case like this."
When considered with other portions of the oral charge, there was no error in that to which exception was reserved.
The construction in Williams v. Lay,
"The title to the crop in question was in Tucker, the employer. * * * The measure of the laborer's lien being in a sum equal to the 'value of the portion of the crop to which he is entitled.' "
This statement of the title and lien is supported in Farrow v. Woolley Jordan,
Under the present appeal, the record discloses evidence that warranted the inference that appellant was holding the possession, not only to enforce his statutory lien to one-half the crop, less the price of fertilizer used in its cultivation, but for the collection of other claims for damages made by the laborer-employé against the employer-landowner. If such was the case, the employé had no right to hold the cotton for such other purpose — not for the bona fide object of securing and enforcing a settlement of his statutory lien for an interest in the crop as the laborer who produced the same. Acts 1915, p. 112, amending Code, § 4743; Lauderdale v. Flippo Son,
Further discussion of the question of repository of the legal title to a crop so grown on the lands of another is unnecessary; yet it may not be out of place to advert to the general rule that detinue will not lie by a person holding merely an equitable lien. 18 C. J. 997, § 16; Butler-Kyser Mfg. Co. v. Central of Ga.,
"A lienor or other equitable holder has no such title as would sustain detinue, and a system, at law, would be at least incongruous that permitted one whose title was not sufficient to maintain detinue to defeat an action by one whose right to the possession of the chattel was superior."
This by analogy supports the view we have announced.
From what is to be found of an expression of the legislative intent in this and analogous statutes the legal title is said to be in one who furnishes the land and stock to make a crop and an equity or lien in such part of the crop so grown in favor of the laborer who produced the crop by his labor, the extent of which lien being declared to be "for the value of the portion of the crop to which he is entitled." It is to be noted that the statute for construction expressly limits the lien on the crop to the value of the portion, etc., and concludes with the further limitation that when such lien is sought to be satisfied by attachment no more of the crop shall be levied on "than may be necessary to satisfy the demand of the laborer." What is meant by the use of the word "demand" in the last-quoted clause? No more than the lien fixed and secured upon the crop produced by the employé's labor. The statutory lien was not of the nature and solemnity of title of which the owner of the land was invested in the usufruct or product of his lands. If there are expressions in the foregoing authorities contrary to this view, they are modified so as to harmonize herewith. Charges denominated B and C were improperly refused.
If there was a failure of response in the verdict to the complaint, when the affirmative charge was requested the court's attention was not called to that variance now insisted upon. If it existed, the complaint could have been amended to meet the proof. Appellee takes nothing on this ground, as to refusal of the general charge requested. Circuit court rule 34, 175 Ala. p. xxi, B. M. F. Co. v. Walpole,
A given charge for defendant on which error is predicated was:
"I charge you that under a contract like the one here in question, the servant or the man growing the crop is entitled to hold the crop under his lien until his lien is paid."
Under the evidence, this statement of the law does not square with the construction we have given section 4743 of the Code, as amended by the act of 1915 (page 112). The charge asserts the law to be that the only way in which the employé could be put in default or become a tort-feasor as to the crop in possession — raised on land and with the team of the employer — would be for the employer (whatever the circumstances) to satisfy the laborer's lien before the exercise of any act of ownership as to its removal from his or the laborer's premises and before its sale in the market. In the former opinion in this case it was conceded that the employé might put himself in default as to the right to further possession, and might become a tort-feasor in relation to the property, and as against the right of property and possession by the owner of the land and teams, in which crop the parties had, respectively, a property and a lien. Any other construction would unnecessarily imperil the property right of the owner of the land and extend to the laborer a right greater than the legislative intent contained in the statute, as we have indicated.
The cases cited to the proposition, that a lienor in possession of property subject to his lien is not liable in detinue to the owner until the lien has been discharged, have been examined, and are not in conflict with foregoing. In McBrayer v. Dillard,
"Here the attachment suit had been permitted to pass beyond the remedy provided by these sections. It could not, then, apply. The court has jurisdiction to make the order for the sale. Rev. Code, § 2956. The law giving this authority is in these words: 'If the property levied on be perishable, it must be sold by order of the court, on motion of either party, and the proceeds of the sale retained by the sheriff to await the decision of the cause, unless the court otherwise direct.' The sheriff has no authority to suspend such an order, or to disregard it. Unless he could do this, he could not release the property ordered to be sold, to the defendant. And under the facts in this case, the plaintiff in the court below had no right of action against him for the mules, or the proceeds of their sale in his hands, without an order of court for the same."
So Spence v. McMillan,
The case of Seals v. Edmondson,
The effect of the cases is that a mere equitable title will not be sufficient on which to maintain detinue; that to maintain detinue the plaintiff must have as against defendant a present, unqualified right to the possession of the chattel in its present form and have a special or general property in the chattel; that if plaintiff has not had actual possession he *448
must show a legal title thereto. Hicks v. Meadows,
The aforequoted charge does not correctly state the law as we have indicated. Having invoked the court to error in special instruction that was contrary to that contained in the general charge, defendant is bound by the error contained in the last contradictory instruction to which he had induced the court. B. R., L. P. Co. v. Seaborn,
The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
ANDERSON, C. J., and McCLELLAN and MILLER, JJ., concur.
Dissenting Opinion
Defendant in the trial court had possession and a lien as provided by section 4743 of the Code. This section provides that "the laborer (defendant) shall have a lien upon the crop produced by his labor for the value of the portion of the crop to which he is entitled," meaning entitled by the terms of the contract between him and the landowner. The character of the lien is not defined. We are left to define it according to common-law principles. We think the lawmakers did not intend an equitable lien, for such liens are raised by implication. It is of the essence of an equitable lien that as long as the lien continues the possession of the thing subject to the lien remains with the person who holds the proprietory interest subject to the incumbrance. In this respect the equitable lien differs from a common-law lien, "which is simply a right to retain possession of the chattel until some debt or demand due the person thus retaining is satisfied; and possession is such an inseparable element that, if it be voluntarily surrendered by the creditor, the lien is at once extinguished." 3 Pom. Eq. Jur. (4th Ed.) § 1233. To the same effect is Voss v. Robertson,
Now to establish plaintiff's right to recover in the action of detinue it is necessary for him to show that he has, not only a general or special property in the chattel sued for, but he must show a right to the immediate possession. Numerous authorities to this effect are noted in 5 Michie's Digest of Alabama Reports, at the top of page 64. Cases are cited in the prevailing opinion to the effect that detinue cannot be maintained on an equitable title, seeming to overlook the fact that plaintiff appellee is not seeking to maintain, but only to defend against, an action of that character.
These observations may appear to be rather elementary in their nature, but in the circumstances reference to them seems necessary.
SOMERVILLE and GARDNER, JJ., concur in the foregoing dissent. *449