50 Vt. 99 | Vt. | 1877
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On the 7th day of September, 1873, the plaintiff obtained judgment against James Godfrey, took out an execution upon said judgment, caused the execution to be levied upon the property sought to be recovered for in this action, and became the purchaser of said property upon the sheriff’s sale of the same upon the execution. On the 9th day of August, 1875, the said Godfrey made application to the defendant as overseer of the poor of the town of Wolcott, for aid, and was accepted by the defendant as a pauper chargeable to the town of Wolcott; and at the same time the defendant took said property as the property of Godfrey, and with his consent, as partial indemnity for the expense of his support. The defendant claimed the right to prove that said judgment and subsequent proceedings thereon were void as against the town, and that he had a right to impeach the same upon the ground that at the time the judgment was rendered, Godfrey was likely to become chargeable as a pauper to said town, and did so become chargeable. This claim was based upon s. 32, c. 113, of the Gen. Sts. If the judgment could be impeached under said section, it must be upon the ground that it was made or had to avoid some right, debt, or duty that Godfrey owed to the town of Wolcott at the time it was rendered. It is not claimed that he was at that time, nor at the time the property was taken by the defendant,.indebted to the town ; so the defendant cannot stand upon the ground that the judgment was had to avoid any debt due to the town. Was it had to avoid any right or duty to the town ? In Brooks v. Clayes, 10 Vt. 54, Ch. J. Williams says: “I apprehend that the word right is synonymous with debt or duty and in Beach v. Boynton, 26 Vt. 725, it is said by Ch. J. Redfield, that right and duty are no doubt limited to such rights and duties as are of the nature of debts such as exist ex-contractu. In the above cases the court was called upon to give a construction to the words right and duty as they are used in said section. The
Treating what transpired between Godfrey and the defendant at the time the defendant took possession of the property as a legal transfer or assignment of whatever interest Godfrey had in it to the defendant, it remains to inquire whether the defendant acquired any interest that was superior to the right of the plaintiff. It is claimed that the adjournment of the sale by the officer from the place where the property was advertised to be sold to the premises of Godfrey, was irregular, and that the plaintiff, having-purchased the property at said sale after the adjournment, did not acquire title to it as against Godfrey. The question as to the right of an officer to adjourn a sale to some other place than the one named in his advertisement, was presented in Jewett v. Guyer & Dwinell, 38 Vt. 209, and it was there held that, while there was no such power conferred by any express provision of the
Judgment affirmed.