49 P. 961 | Or. | 1897
Opinion by
This is a suit to foreclose a mortgage on a homestead claim executed by the patentee thereof to plaintiff March 8, 1895, to secure certain indebtedness by him then contracted. The defendants answered, setting up as a defense thereto, that final proof touching said premises was made October 3, 1894, and that the patent was not issued until July 17, 1895, and therefore, that the premises could not be subject to the payment of such indebtedness. To the answer a demurrer was interposed and sustained, and the action of the court in this regard constitutes the only assignment of error. The sole question thus presented is whether a homestead claimant may lawfully incumber his claim with a mortgage to secure indebtedness contracted subsequent to the date of the final certificate and prior to the issuance of the patent. The homestead act provides, among other things, that no lands acquired under its provisions “ shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor:” Rev. St. U. S. § 2296. This provision of the statute was manifestly designed for the protection of entry men, and to prevent the appropriation of the land in invitum to the satisfaction of any debts in
Affirmed.