2 Wend. 419 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1829
The plaintiff insists that the defendant’s third plea is bad, being an answer only to a part of the declaration ; and that even if the replication is defective, still, the defendant having committed the first fault in pleading, the plaintiff is entitled to judgment. The plea is certainly bad for the cause mentioned. The declaration
As the fourth plea is conceded to be good, the replication to it must stand upon its own merits. The facts stated in the plea are, that the defendant, as sheriff, had levied on the property in question, and that the plaintiff, knowing that fact, had improperly obtained possession of it; and therefore the defendant peaceably re-took the property, in order to execute the writ by virtue of which he had levied. The replication does not deny the levy, but says, that after the levy the plaintiff in the execution ordered the defendant (the officer) to suspend further proceedings till he, the plaintiff in the execution, gave further directions ; that during this suspension, Woodruff, the defendant in the execution, with whom the property was left, sold it to the plaintiff in this suit for a valuable consideration. Assuming these facts to be true, the plaintiff had a good title to the property. The plaintiff in the execution, in consequence of the directions given by him to the defendant, (the officer,) lost his lien upon the property ; the execution became dormant; and any other creditor would have had a right to take it, or a purchaser for a valuable consideration would acquire title to it. The replication is therefore good in substance.
As to the form of the replication, it is objected that no time or place is mentioned when the orders were given to stay proceedings, or when the plaintiff purchased the property; the answer to which is, that neither of those facts was necessary to be averred. Where time and place are not material, the time and place in the declaration cannot be departed from in the plea or replication, and therefore need not to be repeated. (2 H. Bl. 261. 1 Chitty’s
The plaintiff is entitled to judgment on the demurrer, with leave to the defendant to amend on payment of costs.