32 Haw. 680 | Haw. | 1933
OPINION OF THE COURT BY
The Central Korean Christian Church, an eleemosynary corporation, filed a petition in the land court of the Territory alleging that it is the registered owner of land held under Transfer Certificate of Title number 5924; that on July 30, 1931, without the consent or knowledge of the petitioner, a mortgage of that date of the premises described in certificate number 5924 was executed by three named persons purporting to act respectively as president, secretary and treasurer of the petitioner in favor of the Dong Heung Mortgage & Guaranty Company, Limited, a Hawaiian corporation, the consideration recited being the sum of $6000, and that the document was filed in the office of the assistant registrar of the land court as land court document number
The respondents include the mortgagee named in the mortgage and the three persons who executed the mortgage as officers of the petitioning corporation. They deny the truth of the allegations concerning lack of authority and invalidity of the mortgage and also claim that the petition fails to state facts sufficient to entitle the petitioner to any relief. The land court, treating the answer as a demurrer, held that the petitioner’s remedy was in a court of equity (with poAver subsequently in the land court to order a cancellation of the memorandum if the court of equity holds the mortgage to be invalid) and that it is without jurisdiction to hear the controversy disclosed by the petition and the answer and dismissed the petition.
Section 3298, R. L. 1925, being part of chapter 186
It is true that a court of equity would have jurisdiction to cancel the mortgage. The question before us, however, is whether the land court has jurisdiction. The mere fact that a court of equity, if applied to, could entertain the petition does not deprive the land court of the power expressly granted to it by the statute to hear applications of a similar nature. We find nothing in the other sections of the chapter relating to the land court which militates against this view.
The decree dismissing the petition is set aside and the cause is remanded to the land court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.