65 Minn. 491 | Minn. | 1896
This is an action in ejectment to recover possession of lots 6 and 11, and a portion of lot 5, of Smith’s outlots to West St. Paul. The plaintiff claims under an execution sale of these premises, from which no redemption was made. The judgment was recovered on February 16, 1894, and docketed on the same day; and the land was sold after due and proper notice, on April 16, 1894. No attack is made upon the regularity of the sale. The defendants, in their answer, claim that all the lots in question are their homestead, and, by reason of this fact, that they were exempt from sale under plaintiff’s judgment and execution. The court so found, and ordered judgment for the defendants, and the only question presented here on this appeal is whether the conclusions of law follow from the facts found.
The court found, as a conclusion of law, that the defendants were the owners of the land in controversy, and entitled to the possession of the same.
It is quite evident that these lots, containing between three and four acres each, were not laid out into “city lots,” as the term is ordinarily used and popularly understood, but for agricultural purposes, for which purpose they have always been used by the defendants, and neither said lots nor the land surrounding them are urban in their character. Some 11 years before the plaintiff obtained his judgment, the plat was duly vacated as to these lots, by decree and judgment of the district court; and the same became a matter of public record in the office of the clerk of the said court. It is true that G. S. 1894, § 2317, provides that the court may order that‘its proceedings to vacate a plat be recorded in the office of the register
The homestead, once acquired, is a valuable right, and an act of the legislature extending the limits of a city so as to include the homestead, while it retains all its characteristics as such, will not operate to reduce or diminish the right of the owner of the homestead unless it becomes in fact urban property. Heidel v. Benedict, 61 Minn. 170, 63 N. W. 490.
Because the premises are wholly or partly surrounded by laid-out and platted lands does not affect its homestead character, so long as the land itself is not laid out and platted, and is not urban in its character. See, also, In re Smith’s Estate, 51 Minn. 316, 53 N. W. 711.
The premises are not urban in the purpose for which they are used, nor in size, compared with other city lots laid out or platted in the city where these premises are situate. Homestead interests are favored by the constitution and statute, and the law applicable thereto should receive a liberal construction. In our opinion, the whole tract claimed by defendants is exempt as a homestead, and the plaintiff acquired no title by the sale of any part thereof under his execution.
Order affirmed.
Mitchell, J., absent, took no part.